Winter is the season that comes after fall and before spring. Winter is usually the coldest time of year and in some places, it brings freezing temperatures, snow, and ice with it. Even places that don’t get snow or freezing cold weather still have a winter season. Here are a few ways to tell that it’s winter, other than snow and cold:
The changes that winter brings affect people, animals, plants, and trees alike. Trees and plants go dormant to live through the cold and some animals hibernate while other stores up food in the fall to eat during the winter when it gets harder to find food. To learn more, check out our newsletter about Hibernation. Some animals adapt to the change in weather by growing a white colored winter coat of fur to blend in with snow. Many animals eat different foods in the winter than during the rest of the year. Squirrels and mice gather food like nuts and seeds in the fall and save them in their nests to eat in the winter, and others like deer eat twigs and bark when it’s hard to find other things to eat. These are ways that animals can adapt to stay alive and active during the coldest times of the year.
We have seasons because of the way that the earth moves around the sun. The earth orbits the sun along an egg-shaped path, just like all of the other planets do. It takes a whole year, or 365 days, for the earth to go all the way around the sun one time. The earth is also tilted. It is always tilted in the same direction, so only part of the earth can be facing the sun at a time. The part of the earth that is tilted farthest away from the sun gets winter (because it is farther away from the sun) while the part of the earth that is towards the sun has summer (it is facing the sun more directly). The earth also spins around (like a top) while it is moving around the sun! It spins around one full time in a day. You can learn more about the planets and their orbits here.
Many birds fly south to warmer places for the winter. This is called migration. When snow starts falling and lakes and rivers begin to freeze, it gets harder for many birds to find food, so they start traveling south to places where they can find food more easily. They will head back to their summer homes to build nests and lay eggs when spring comes. Other animals migrate, too. Did you know that even Monarch butterflies, sea turtles, and salmon (a type of fish) migrate?
Check out our winter science projects for some fun cold-weather science ideas!