Think you’ve had a bad winter? So did we… That is until we saw these photos of winters around the globe. From mother nature’s chilly art to icy phenomenons, we guarantee just glancing at these photos will give you the chills. So grab a heavy blanket, fix yourself a hot chocolate, and keep scrolling to see what real cold looks like.
Avalanche Alert
In particularly cold northern climates, ‘but it’s snowing…’ is rarely accepted as a valid excuse to miss work or school. But even places like Newfoundland have exceptionally snowy days that keep residents from getting out the door, literally. Let’s just hope these poor snowed-in folks are well stocked with plenty of food and necessities. Who knows just how densely packed this avalanche is; it might take quite a bit of digging before they can see the outside world again.
On the bright side, packed snow can be quite insulating (hello, igloos), so technically, the people who live here don’t even have to shut the door to keep cold air out. But good luck hearing a visitor knock.
Cold But Curvy
Children, please cover your eyes and continue to scroll down. While some accidental ice sculptures might take on a humorous shape or geometrically beautiful design, this is one of the few that qualifies as NSFW. It looks like what you would find at the entrance to Hugh Hefner’s Aspen getaway. That, or it could be part of the opening title sequence for a James Bond movie set in the Arctic.
While some of you might pay special attention to this ice woman’s shapely body, others might be alarmed by the dangerous situation she’s found herself in. The poor thing’s holding on for dear life!
Is This How Firefighters Keep Cool?
Firefighters know that their brave line of work comes with some serious risks. They might faint due to heat exhaustion; they can suffer from third-degree burns; sustain lung damage from smoke inhalation, or become injured from falling structures. But the chances of dying from hypothermia are probably quite low on the long list of a firefighter’s job hazards, or so this firefighter thought before the day this photo was taken.
Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for his frozen uniform: Just run back into the burning building, wait around for a few seconds, and voila! That layer of ice will melt right off!
Lunch With a Ghost
This classic trick is well known to families in cold northern climates worldwide and is a great way to entertain kids before a spaghetti dinner. After boiling the noodles and bringing the plate outside, the remaining water freezes, forming a noodle tower capable of keeping the fork suspended in mid-air. It’s also a great chance to teach children about the basic states of matter, in this case, how changes in heat allow liquids to convert into solids and back again.
While this meal may have made for a great photo, it doesn’t look particularly tasty. Plain pasta without sauce? Now, where’s the fun in that?
A Fearless Feline
The scientific consensus is that modern house cats evolved from the African wildcat. But zoologists should take a look at this pictured puffball to determine if it has some Siberian tiger genes somewhere in its ancestry. The cold temperatures don’t seem to bother it one bit, and it’s also unconcerned by the icicles, which appear to reach out to pet the adorable fluff muffin. But, alas, the kitty doesn’t care.
Strangely curved icicle sheets and the professional cat model aside, it’s the picturesque red barn that really completes the shot. Surely it gets quite drafty in there.
They Accidentally Built an Indoor Ice Skating Rink
Flooded basements are certainly no picnic at any time of year, but flooding in winter can have particularly problematic results. Perhaps even more frightening than the mess this will cause once it melts is the water bill the homeowners will have to pay. But maybe they can recoup the cost by advertising their basement as a temporary ice rink. That, or they can just convert the basement into a swimming pool once summer arrives.
Remember, on those extra cold days, make sure at least one of your sinks is kept on a slow drip so that water continually moves through the pipes. Otherwise, the water might freeze, burst, and potentially cause a catastrophe like this one.
Facial Hair Freeze
Experienced barbers generally recommend that men wash their beards with warm water before shaving, as warmer hairs are more relaxed and easier to shave off. But this icy beard mess might require a more thoughtful approach to grooming. What would your first step be here? Blowdryer? Immersive bath? Maybe it’s enough to simply stand in any heated room and let what was obviously a very tough day melt away.
It’s amazing that the poor guy can even manage to lift his head and look into the camera. That must be some very heavy facial hair!
This Could Get Dangerous
Winter weather can cause complete chaos when it comes to road safety. Drivers are already dealing with icy roads and poor tire traction, so covering up traffic lights with snow only adds to the danger of navigating an intersection. And given that traffic lights have now been in use for over 150 years, it’s pretty surprising that these circular light enclosures don’t have holes at the bottom to let accumulated snow or water simply fall out.
What makes this situation even more confusing is that this photo was snapped in Lake Tahoe, of all places, where snow isn’t exactly uncommon. Perhaps they should have anticipated this.
The Winter Disappearing Act
This creative but rather creepy college tradition involves taking wet children’s clothing and placing them in extremely cold weather so that they freeze into the shapes of mysteriously missing children. The end result is like some kind of a scene from a Stephen King novel. ‘In a quiet Maine town, one winter day, the children were playing outside and suddenly disappeared, leaving only their empty coats and horrified parents behind.’
And if it looks this creepy in the daylight, we can’t even imagine walking around at night and just seeing these mysterious shadows lining the sidewalks.
Frozen Fins
This dreamlike image could pass as either a winter scene from one of the Oz books, or perhaps it could be mistaken for a shark-infested lagoon. In actuality, it’s the surprising result of Lake Michigan freezing. The ice was then pushed up as waters warmed beneath the frozen surface, causing it to break into these spectacular shards. Beautiful as it might be, it’s unlikely to attract a great deal of northward migration to the likes of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin.
You might be wondering: ‘Just how cold did temps have to dip for this to happen?’ The answer: A brisk -23°F. So definitely bring your parka if you’d like to admire this winter landscape in person.
Bye, Bye Birdie
Several bird species migrate north in the spring and south in the autumn in search of more comfortable weather. But this one appears to have been somewhat distracted, to the point that it forgot to take flight entirely before the brutally cold weather set in. Fortunately, you can rest assured and stop squinting your eyes. There’s no actual frozen bird here; it’s just a fluke of (very, very cold) nature.
The real question is, what kind of bird is this shaped like? Depending on your perspective, it could pass as a mockingbird or a hummingbird.
Canada’s Snocano
Canucks joke endlessly about how cold Canada gets in the wintertime, and after seeing this picture, it’s abundantly clear why Canada is often referred to as the ‘Great White North.’ The nickname is justified for anyone who has survived a winter in British Columbia. But maybe the bitter winter cold is worthwhile after all? It’s not everywhere that a waterfall creates an ice cone, particularly one that collapses inward to such spectacular effect.
While most tourists come to see the pictured Helmcken Falls in the summer, brave souls would be well rewarded for bearing the lingering March cold to check out something like this in person. It’s what we like to call a snocano – a volcano of snow!
Too Heavy a Burden
Everyone has moments when they feel like they could fall apart from bearing too much stress. The next time you have one of those days, don’t beat yourself up for being, shall we say, weak wooded. Instead, take comfort in the fact that you’re at least more resilient than this poor Bradford pear tree, which collapsed—or rather, split into four—from the weight of a little snow. Other trees look at this winter misfit and just let out a long, deep sigh.
Maybe there’s more to this than meets the eye. Did lightning strike it? If that’s the case, its complete collapse is perhaps slightly more excusable.
Just Your Everyday Ice Dome
Sometimes winter can be so gloomy and cold that it feels like the sky is simply made of ice. Well, imagine what the birds of this aviary (a large enclosed birdcage) thought when they woke up one cold morning, flew off the branch they’d slept on and found that their enclosure net had completely frozen over. Not exactly an uplifting start to a day, whether you live on land or in the sky.
Hopefully, the aviary staff gave a little warning before they shook the net. Otherwise, it seems like some unaware birds might have ended up getting seriously hurt.
‘Welcome’ to Our Alarmingly Cold Home
Though this could easily be mistaken for frosted gingerbread, it’s probably best not to serve it to guests with tea. It’s actually a welcome mat that was first frozen by brutally cold temperatures and then accidentally snapped in two by its unlucky owner. But look on the bright side: Though the welcome mat should be moved indoors, the upside of living in this freezing place is that you do not need an indoor freezer. Just fill your ice cube trays with water and leave them out overnight.
Needless to say, any place this cold is decidedly unwelcoming. Let’s just hope the residents here are at least quick to answer the door when they have guests.
Not a Big Fan of Winter
There’s nothing more frustrating than staring at a fan sitting in your living room as you shiver through a harsh winter. And hey, everyone runs out of closet space at one time or another, right? So it might make sense that the owner of this fan thought to leave it outside until the return of summer. But why on earth was it turned on during a spell of freezing rain?
Word of advice: Don’t start the fan up again until the ice has completely melted. Flying ice shards could potentially be quite dangerous.
Freeze to Life
While this may have resulted from sudden and unexpected freezing rain, it might also have been an intentional choice by whoever is responsible for the upkeep of this beautiful flowerbed. When experienced gardeners anticipate particularly cold weather, they sometimes elect to turn on a sprinkling system so that their plants are encased in frozen water, which can actually insulate the plant against threatening cold. Counterintuitive though it may sound, it protects beauties like this one.
Aside from being a smart gardening and landscaping choice, watering plants before a freeze makes for incredible photos. Every nursery’s social media manager should take note!
When the Water Level Lowers
It’s unclear just how this triangular sheet of ice ended up floating in the air (or technically, wrapped around a tree) while the rest of it apparently melted away underneath. But why look a gift horse in the mouth? This could make for a fantastic ice skating scene using a bunch of miniature figurines (Legos, Playmobil, etc.). Making sets of tiny ice skates would be quite a time investment, but, after all, sometimes you have to suffer for art.
Furthermore, maybe this ice sheet could be highly functional. After all, who hasn’t run out of shelf space at some point?