# Winter
Temperatures are dropping and survival is becoming a real challenge. Most plants died from the cold snow and the ones that survived can't grow. The lakes and rivers are frozen and swimming could be lethal. The water has a dark-blue colour and the trees and grass are light-grey. Surviving the long and cold nights is truly a challenge.
### Quick summary
* Winter starts on December 4 by default
* Leaves and grass have a light-grey tint
* The sky is a bit more white
* Water is dark blue
* All water source blocks without a block somewhere above them will freeze over time
* It snows instead of rain. The actual snow texture of vanilla Minecraft is used, not particles. Snow will be removed again after the season
* Nights will be long (around 13min) and days will be short (around 7 min). See [day and night length](https://wiki.realisticseasons.com/calendar/day-and-night-length)
* Wolves, white foxes, polar bears and snowmen (without pumpkin) can be found everywhere
* Strays will spawn instead of skeletons
* There's a 20% chance every night that the sky will be filled with [white sparks](https://wiki.realisticseasons.com/particles#night-sparks)
* Crops/plants will not grow if they don’t have a block (somewhere) above them. This forces players to build indoor farms if they want to grow crops in the winter.
* Average [temperature ](https://wiki.realisticseasons.com/temperature/modifiers)will be between -10°C-5°C, depending on the biome
* Players will have to protect themselves against the cold temperatures. [Here ](https://wiki.realisticseasons.com/temperature/modifiers)is explained how they can
### Sub-seasons
Snow and ice placement changes between [sub-seasons](https://wiki.realisticseasons.com/seasons/sub-seasons). During the beginning of winter, snow may be visible in the air but will likely not be placed on the ground because of the relatively higher temperatures. Ice formation is slow and starts on the outside of lakes and grows to the inside as seen below:
Pattern of ice formation in early-winter
### Screenshots
     
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