To survive the harshness of winter, many animals have developed different behavioral and morphological adaptations for Overwintering:
* Migration is a common effect of winter upon animals, notably birds. However the majority of birds do not migrate, the cardinal or European Robin for example. Some butterflies also migrate seasonally.
* Hibernation is a state of reduced metabolic activity during the winter. Some animals “sleep” during winter and only come out as warm weather returns. For example, gophers, frogs, snakes and bats hibernate.
* Some animals store food for the winter and live upon it instead of hibernating completely. This is the case of squirrels, beavers, skunks, badgers and raccoons.
Annual plants never survive the winter. As for perennial plants, many small ones profit from the insulating effects of snow by being buried in it. Larger plants, particularly deciduous trees, usually let their upper part go dormant, but their roots are still protected by the snow layer. Few plants bloom in the winter, with exceptions including the flowering plum (which flowers in time for Chinese New Year).
Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. Calculated astronomically, it begins on the solstice and ends on the equinox. It is the season with the shortest days and the lowest average temperatures. It has colder weather and, especially in the higher latitudes or altitudes, snow and ice. The coldest average temperatures of the season are typically experienced in January in the Northern Hemisphere and in July in the Southern Hemisphere.