Loved by some, hated by others, the cold has the ability to interfere with our routines, our health, plant growth, food conservation and a multitude of other things. Enjoy and come with us to know a little more about this condition and the wonders that the cold brings us! But a word of caution: before moving on, it's important not to define it as just a weather event. Expand your perception and unleash your senses!

The snow

Snow is a meteorological phenomenon that forms from water vapor that, at high altitudes, changes to a solid state, turning into ice crystals. The ice crystals gather around a speck of dust, forming a snowflake! It is seen recurrently at the North and South Poles, accumulated on very high mountain peaks and during the winter months in some regions. And anyone who thinks snow is white is wrong – that's just the light reflected off its transparent flakes.

Frozen lakes and oceans

We already know: the temperature at which fresh water freezes is zero degrees. In regions with low temperatures, some lakes freeze on the surface, but the part that is submerged does not. This happens because the ice ends up forming a thermal protection layer, preventing the water from freezing completely. In salt water, freezing occurs at lower temperatures. That's why in places like the North and South Poles only part of the oceans have thin layers of ice.

Animals that love the cold

Polar bear, arctic fox, seal, hare and arctic wolf, Greenland whale, penguin, walrus, reindeer and snowy owl: these are some of the many animals that survive in extreme temperatures. Their organisms are able to adapt to the many threats that the cold imposes and their bodies have hair or a large amount of accumulated fat that respond well to the freezing environment!

Polar bear is one of the best known animals when we talk about cold.

 The plants and the cold weather

Faced with the cold, plants adapt their structures and even behave differently. The smaller ones, which develop in a low-lying way, are the ones that better withstand the icy climate. They are less affected by winds and even cover themselves with small “hairs” to better retain heat and moisture. Sometimes they darken their leaves, concentrating the heat of the sun and other times they hibernate making a vegetative rest. This explains why native plants in the distant regions of the tropics live long, with species surviving from 40 to 200 years.

 Some plants may darken in the cold to concentrate the sun's heat.

Negative temperatures

If you think you've seen or felt enough cold, how about a thermometer pointing to minus 89.2 degrees Celsius? This was the lowest temperature ever recorded at the research station in Antarctica, in the early 1980s. But here comes the question: can human beings withstand temperatures like this? We answer: the ability to withstand low temperatures varies from organism to organism, from the quantity and quality of outerwear, as well as the body's conditioning in the face of this extreme. Research shows that when the wind chill index - which is the sensation of cold as felt directly on the skin - marks minus 27°C, care needs to be redoubled so that the fabrics do not freeze. Ice crystals form in epithelial cells and cause damage that can kill them.

The polar night

The polar night phenomenon occurs during winter at the northern end of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. During this period, due to the position of the Earth, the sun remains below the horizon throughout the day. While the extreme days and nights in the Southern Hemisphere can only be seen in lonely Antarctica, those in the Arctic can be experienced in countries like Iceland, Sweden, Russia, Finland and Canada. And believe me, some of these countries even stay in darkness for 60 days, since the sunset does not happen. At the extreme poles, the sun can be uninterruptedly visible for up to six months.

Some locations can stay up to 60 days in darkness.

Body reactions to cold

To overcome the cold, the body activates some mechanisms that generate heat, through the response that skin cells send through the nervous system. The simple fact of shivering (both the body and the teeth), which seems like a common involuntary reaction to the cold, is a way of activating the circulation to increase the production of heat. The extremities of the body tend to be colder because they receive less blood circulation, which is concentrated to warm vital areas. The standing hairs form a layer of air close to the skin, preserving heat and creating a kind of barrier to the cold.

Northern Lights

Although the Aurora Borealis phenomenon is not exclusive to winter, it is on the coldest nights that it is more likely to happen. It is in the polar regions that the Aurora Borealis finds the ideal place to present its show: temperatures below zero and a clear and very dark sky to color!