diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e1d7c731bc2..e64556cd850 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,21 @@
+## dbt 0.16.next (Release TBD)
+
+### Breaking changes
+- When overriding the snowflake__list_schemas macro, you must now run a result with a column named 'name' instead of the first column ([#2171](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2171))
+- dbt no longer supports databases with greater than 10,000 schemas ([#2171](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2171))
+
+### Features
+- Remove the requirement to have a passphrase when using Snowflake key pair authentication ([#1805](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/1805), [#2164](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2164))
+- Adding optional "sslmode" parameter for postgres ([#2152](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2152), [#2154](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2154))
+
+### Under the hood
+- Use `show terse schemas in database` (chosen based on data collected by Michael Weinberg) instead of `select ... from information_schema.schemata` when collecting the list of schemas in a database ([#2166](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2166), [#2171](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2171))
+- Parallelize filling the cache and listing schemas in each database during startup ([#2127](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2127), [#2157](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2157))
+
+Contributors:
+ - [@mhmcdonald](https://github.com/mhmcdonald) ([#2164](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2164))
+ - [@dholleran-lendico](https://github.com/dholleran-lendico) ([#2154](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2154))
+
 ## dbt 0.16.0b3 (February 26, 2020)
 
 ### Breaking changes
@@ -7,10 +25,8 @@
 ### Features
 - Add a "docs" field to models, with a "show" subfield ([#1671](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/1671), [#2107](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2107))
 - Add a dbt-{dbt_version} user agent field to the bigquery connector ([#2121](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2121), [#2146](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2146))
-- Adding optional "sslmode" parameter for postgres ([#2152](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2152), [#2154](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2154))
 - Add support for `generate_database_name` macro ([#1695](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/1695), [#2143](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2143))
 - Expand the search path for schema.yml (and by extension, the default docs path) to include macro-paths and analysis-paths (in addition to source-paths, data-paths, and snapshot-paths) ([#2155](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2155), [#2160](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2160))
-- Remove the requirement to have a passphrase when using Snowflake key pair authentication ([#1804](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/1805), [#2164](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2164))
 
 ### Fixes
 - Fix issue where dbt did not give an error in the presence of duplicate doc names ([#2054](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2054), [#2080](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2080))
@@ -19,14 +35,9 @@
 - Fix an issue where dbt rendered source test args, fix issue where dbt ran an extra compile pass over the wrapped SQL. ([#2114](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2114), [#2150](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2150))
 - Set more upper bounds for jinja2,requests, and idna dependencies, upgrade snowflake-connector-python ([#2147](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2147), [#2151](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2151))
 
-### Under the hood
-- Parallelize filling the cache and listing schemas in each database during startup ([#2127](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/issues/2127), [#2157](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2157))
-
 Contributors:
  - [@bubbomb](https://github.com/bubbomb) ([#2080](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2080))
  - [@sonac](https://github.com/sonac) ([#2078](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2078))
- - [@mhmcdonald](https://github.com/mhmcdonald) ([#2164](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2164))
- - [@dholleran-lendico](https://github.com/dholleran-lendico) ([#2154](https://github.com/fishtown-analytics/dbt/pull/2154))
 
 ## dbt 0.16.0b1 (February 11, 2020)
 
diff --git a/core/dbt/adapters/base/__init__.py b/core/dbt/adapters/base/__init__.py
index 39461477c69..b4ddf791159 100644
--- a/core/dbt/adapters/base/__init__.py
+++ b/core/dbt/adapters/base/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@
 from dbt.contracts.connection import Credentials  # noqa
 from dbt.adapters.base.meta import available  # noqa
 from dbt.adapters.base.connections import BaseConnectionManager  # noqa
-from dbt.adapters.base.relation import BaseRelation, RelationType  # noqa
+from dbt.adapters.base.relation import (  # noqa
+    BaseRelation,
+    RelationType,
+    SchemaSearchMap,
+)
 from dbt.adapters.base.column import Column  # noqa
 from dbt.adapters.base.impl import BaseAdapter  # noqa
 from dbt.adapters.base.plugin import AdapterPlugin  # noqa
diff --git a/core/dbt/adapters/base/impl.py b/core/dbt/adapters/base/impl.py
index 76908738328..8600560b1d7 100644
--- a/core/dbt/adapters/base/impl.py
+++ b/core/dbt/adapters/base/impl.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 from dbt.adapters.base.connections import BaseConnectionManager, Connection
 from dbt.adapters.base.meta import AdapterMeta, available
 from dbt.adapters.base.relation import (
-    ComponentName, BaseRelation, InformationSchema
+    ComponentName, BaseRelation, InformationSchema, SchemaSearchMap
 )
 from dbt.adapters.base import Column as BaseColumn
 from dbt.adapters.cache import RelationsCache
@@ -120,55 +120,6 @@ def _relation_name(rel: Optional[BaseRelation]) -> str:
         return str(rel)
 
 
-class SchemaSearchMap(Dict[InformationSchema, Set[Optional[str]]]):
-    """A utility class to keep track of what information_schema tables to
-    search for what schemas
-    """
-    def add(self, relation: BaseRelation):
-        key = relation.information_schema_only()
-        if key not in self:
-            self[key] = set()
-        lowered: Optional[str] = None
-        if relation.schema is not None:
-            lowered = relation.schema.lower()
-        self[key].add(lowered)
-
-    def search(self):
-        for information_schema_name, schemas in self.items():
-            for schema in schemas:
-                yield information_schema_name, schema
-
-    def schemas_searched(self):
-        result: Set[Tuple[str, str]] = set()
-        for information_schema_name, schemas in self.items():
-            result.update(
-                (information_schema_name.database, schema)
-                for schema in schemas
-            )
-        return result
-
-    def flatten(self):
-        new = self.__class__()
-
-        # make sure we don't have duplicates
-        seen = {r.database.lower() for r in self if r.database}
-        if len(seen) > 1:
-            raise_compiler_error(str(seen))
-
-        for information_schema_name, schema in self.search():
-            path = {
-                'database': information_schema_name.database,
-                'schema': schema
-            }
-            new.add(information_schema_name.incorporate(
-                path=path,
-                quote_policy={'database': False},
-                include_policy={'database': False},
-            ))
-
-        return new
-
-
 class BaseAdapter(metaclass=AdapterMeta):
     """The BaseAdapter provides an abstract base class for adapters.
 
@@ -1010,11 +961,12 @@ def execute_macro(
 
         macro_function = MacroGenerator(macro, macro_context)
 
-        try:
-            result = macro_function(**kwargs)
-        finally:
-            if release:
-                self.release_connection()
+        with self.connections.exception_handler(f'macro {macro_name}'):
+            try:
+                result = macro_function(**kwargs)
+            finally:
+                if release:
+                    self.release_connection()
         return result
 
     @classmethod
diff --git a/core/dbt/adapters/base/relation.py b/core/dbt/adapters/base/relation.py
index 6d1c6c41783..d223741de01 100644
--- a/core/dbt/adapters/base/relation.py
+++ b/core/dbt/adapters/base/relation.py
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
 from collections.abc import Mapping, Hashable
 from dataclasses import dataclass, fields
 from typing import (
-    Optional, TypeVar, Generic, Any, Type, Dict, Union, List, Iterator, Tuple
+    Optional, TypeVar, Generic, Any, Type, Dict, Union, List, Iterator, Tuple,
+    Set
 )
 from typing_extensions import Protocol
 
@@ -496,3 +497,59 @@ def _render_iterator(self):
         for k, v in super()._render_iterator():
             yield k, v
         yield None, self.information_schema_view
+
+
+class SchemaSearchMap(Dict[InformationSchema, Set[Optional[str]]]):
+    """A utility class to keep track of what information_schema tables to
+    search for what schemas
+    """
+    def add(self, relation: BaseRelation, preserve_case=False):
+        key = relation.information_schema_only()
+        if key not in self:
+            self[key] = set()
+        schema: Optional[str] = None
+        if relation.schema is not None:
+            if preserve_case:
+                schema = relation.schema
+            else:
+                schema = relation.schema.lower()
+        self[key].add(schema)
+
+    def search(self) -> Iterator[Tuple[InformationSchema, Optional[str]]]:
+        for information_schema_name, schemas in self.items():
+            for schema in schemas:
+                yield information_schema_name, schema
+
+    def schemas_searched(self) -> Set[Tuple[str, Optional[str]]]:
+        result: Set[Tuple[str, Optional[str]]] = set()
+        for information_schema_name, schemas in self.items():
+            if information_schema_name.database is None:
+                raise InternalException(
+                    'Got a None database in an information schema!'
+                )
+            result.update(
+                (information_schema_name.database, schema)
+                for schema in schemas
+            )
+        return result
+
+    def flatten(self):
+        new = self.__class__()
+
+        # make sure we don't have duplicates
+        seen = {r.database.lower() for r in self if r.database}
+        if len(seen) > 1:
+            dbt.exceptions.raise_compiler_error(str(seen))
+
+        for information_schema_name, schema in self.search():
+            path = {
+                'database': information_schema_name.database,
+                'schema': schema
+            }
+            new.add(information_schema_name.incorporate(
+                path=path,
+                quote_policy={'database': False},
+                include_policy={'database': False},
+            ))
+
+        return new
diff --git a/core/dbt/deprecations.py b/core/dbt/deprecations.py
index 3cfeea14491..20df3919de7 100644
--- a/core/dbt/deprecations.py
+++ b/core/dbt/deprecations.py
@@ -36,22 +36,6 @@ def show(self, *args, **kwargs) -> None:
             active_deprecations.add(self.name)
 
 
-class GenerateSchemaNameSingleArgDeprecated(DBTDeprecation):
-    _name = 'generate-schema-name-single-arg'
-
-    _description = '''\
-    As of dbt v0.14.0, the `generate_schema_name` macro accepts a second "node"
-    argument. The one-argument form of `generate_schema_name` is deprecated,
-    and will become unsupported in a future release.
-
-
-
-    For more information, see:
-
-    https://docs.getdbt.com/v0.14/docs/upgrading-to-014
-    '''
-
-
 class MaterializationReturnDeprecation(DBTDeprecation):
     _name = 'materialization-return'
 
@@ -166,7 +150,6 @@ def warn(name, *args, **kwargs):
 active_deprecations: Set[str] = set()
 
 deprecations_list: List[DBTDeprecation] = [
-    GenerateSchemaNameSingleArgDeprecated(),
     MaterializationReturnDeprecation(),
     NotADictionaryDeprecation(),
     ColumnQuotingDeprecation(),
diff --git a/core/dbt/task/runnable.py b/core/dbt/task/runnable.py
index a7b4b06aefe..33e6a78ff58 100644
--- a/core/dbt/task/runnable.py
+++ b/core/dbt/task/runnable.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 from typing import Optional, Dict, List, Set, Tuple, Iterable
 
 from dbt.task.base import ConfiguredTask
+from dbt.adapters.base import SchemaSearchMap
 from dbt.adapters.factory import get_adapter
 from dbt.logger import (
     GLOBAL_LOGGER as logger,
@@ -376,25 +377,38 @@ def interpret_results(self, results):
         return len(failures) == 0
 
     def get_model_schemas(
-        self, selected_uids: Iterable[str]
-    ) -> Set[Tuple[str, str]]:
+        self, adapter, selected_uids: Iterable[str]
+    ) -> SchemaSearchMap:
         if self.manifest is None:
             raise InternalException('manifest was None in get_model_schemas')
+        search_map = SchemaSearchMap()
 
-        schemas: Set[Tuple[str, str]] = set()
         for node in self.manifest.nodes.values():
             if node.unique_id not in selected_uids:
                 continue
             if node.is_refable and not node.is_ephemeral:
-                schemas.add((node.database, node.schema))
+                relation = adapter.Relation.create_from(self.config, node)
+                # we're going to be creating these schemas, so preserve the
+                # case.
+                search_map.add(relation, preserve_case=True)
 
-        return schemas
+        return search_map
 
     def create_schemas(self, adapter, selected_uids: Iterable[str]):
-        required_schemas = self.get_model_schemas(selected_uids)
-        required_databases = set(db for db, _ in required_schemas)
+        required_schemas = self.get_model_schemas(adapter, selected_uids)
+        # we want the string form of the information schema database
+        required_databases: List[str] = []
+        for info in required_schemas:
+            include_policy = info.include_policy.replace(
+                schema=False, identifier=False, database=True
+            )
+            db_only = info.replace(
+                include_policy=include_policy,
+                information_schema_view=None,
+            )
+            required_databases.append(str(db_only))
 
-        existing_schemas_lowered: Set[Tuple[str, str]] = set()
+        existing_schemas_lowered: Set[Tuple[str, Optional[str]]] = set()
 
         def list_schemas(db: str) -> List[Tuple[str, str]]:
             with adapter.connection_named(f'list_{db}'):
@@ -418,8 +432,17 @@ def create_schema(db: str, schema: str) -> None:
             for ls_future in as_completed(list_futures):
                 existing_schemas_lowered.update(ls_future.result())
 
-            for db, schema in required_schemas:
-                db_schema = (db.lower(), schema.lower())
+            for info, schema in required_schemas.search():
+                if info.database is None:
+                    raise InternalException(
+                        'Got an information schema with no database!'
+                    )
+                db: str = info.database
+                lower_schema: Optional[str] = None
+                if schema is not None:
+                    lower_schema = schema.lower()
+
+                db_schema = (db.lower(), lower_schema)
                 if db_schema not in existing_schemas_lowered:
                     existing_schemas_lowered.add(db_schema)
                     create_futures.append(
diff --git a/plugins/bigquery/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py b/plugins/bigquery/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
index f7f6581426a..3ae6f40a59d 100644
--- a/plugins/bigquery/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
+++ b/plugins/bigquery/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@
 import dbt.clients.agate_helper
 import dbt.links
 
-from dbt.adapters.base import BaseAdapter, available, RelationType
-from dbt.adapters.base.impl import SchemaSearchMap
+from dbt.adapters.base import (
+    BaseAdapter, available, RelationType, SchemaSearchMap
+)
 from dbt.adapters.bigquery.relation import (
     BigQueryRelation, BigQueryInformationSchema
 )
@@ -179,6 +180,9 @@ def rename_relation(
 
     @available
     def list_schemas(self, database: str) -> List[str]:
+        # the database string we get here is potentially quoted. Strip that off
+        # for the API call.
+        database = database.strip('`')
         conn = self.connections.get_thread_connection()
         client = conn.handle
 
diff --git a/plugins/snowflake/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py b/plugins/snowflake/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
index 86c96abbb55..37e27dcb2de 100644
--- a/plugins/snowflake/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
+++ b/plugins/snowflake/dbt/adapters/snowflake/impl.py
@@ -1,13 +1,14 @@
-from typing import Mapping, Any, Optional
+from typing import Mapping, Any, Optional, List
 
 import agate
 
 from dbt.adapters.sql import SQLAdapter
+from dbt.adapters.sql.impl import LIST_SCHEMAS_MACRO_NAME
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeConnectionManager
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeRelation
 from dbt.adapters.snowflake import SnowflakeColumn
 from dbt.contracts.graph.manifest import Manifest
-from dbt.exceptions import RuntimeException
+from dbt.exceptions import RuntimeException, DatabaseException
 from dbt.utils import filter_null_values
 
 
@@ -81,3 +82,20 @@ def post_model_hook(
     ) -> None:
         if context is not None:
             self._use_warehouse(context)
+
+    def list_schemas(self, database: str) -> List[str]:
+        try:
+            results = self.execute_macro(
+                LIST_SCHEMAS_MACRO_NAME,
+                kwargs={'database': database}
+            )
+        except DatabaseException as exc:
+            msg = (
+                f'Database error while listing schemas in database '
+                f'"{database}"\n{exc}'
+            )
+            raise RuntimeException(msg)
+        # this uses 'show terse schemas in database', and the column name we
+        # want is 'name'
+
+        return [row['name'] for row in results]
diff --git a/plugins/snowflake/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql b/plugins/snowflake/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
index ffa7d6bae62..9d051c4e39c 100644
--- a/plugins/snowflake/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
+++ b/plugins/snowflake/dbt/include/snowflake/macros/adapters.sql
@@ -79,6 +79,24 @@
 
 {% endmacro %}
 
+{% macro snowflake__list_schemas(database) -%}
+  {# 10k limit from here: https://docs.snowflake.net/manuals/sql-reference/sql/show-schemas.html#usage-notes #}
+  {% set maximum = 10000 %}
+  {% set sql -%}
+    show terse schemas in database {{ database }}
+    limit {{ maximum }}
+  {%- endset %}
+  {% set result = run_query(sql) %}
+  {% if (result | length) >= maximum %}
+    {% set msg %}
+      Too many schemas in database {{ database }}! dbt can only get
+      information about databases with fewer than {{ maximum }} schemas.
+    {% endset %}
+    {% do exceptions.raise_compiler_error(msg) %}
+  {% endif %}
+  {{ return(result) }}
+{% endmacro %}
+
 
 {% macro snowflake__list_relations_without_caching(information_schema, schema) %}
   {% call statement('list_relations_without_caching', fetch_result=True) -%}