Snowy Tundra

The snowy tundra is an uncommon snowy/icy biome, typically generating near other snowy or cold biomes such as the snowy taiga. The biome family has a total of three individual variant biomes.

Description

The tundra is vast and covered almost entirely with snow layers, which are often stacked in Bedrock Edition. Spruce and oak trees, tall grass, dandelions, and poppies generate infrequently, breaking the snow layers. The exposed grass and leaves take on a dark aqua green color. Lakes generate somewhat frequently, though freeze over soon after generation due to the temperature if not exposed to light; thus, any sugar canes that generate alongside these lakes will uproot themselves shortly after. In the rare Ice Spikes variant, packed ice generates naturally. Lava lakes that generate within the tundra melt the snow layers around them.

River biomes that cut through tundra are partially frozen, if not fully frozen in the case of the variant Frozen River biome.

Unique to these biomes are generated igloos. Igloos can be especially difficult to spot in the tundra, due to the snow blocks camouflaging among the snow layers. Villages that generate in the tundra are made of spruce wood, like their taiga variants, and are covered in snow layers.‌^{[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]} Also unique to the tundra, along with frozen rivers and ice spikes, are the rare polar bear mobs and strays, variants of skeletons that shoot arrows of Slowness.

Survival in the tundra can be quite difficult due to the general sparseness of the biome and near-total lack of passive mobs; only polar bears and rabbits may spawn here. Infrequent spruce and oak trees are the only source of wood in this biome, and maintaining water sources can be tough due to water in this biome freezing into ice, if it is not protected by light or a roof. Strays often spawning in place of skeletons can make dealing with hostile mobs even more difficult, due to their slowness arrows, and aggravating polar bears (or even coming near one, if accompanied by cubs) can lead to fatal consequences if unprepared. However, the tundra can be valuable to late-game players due to the occurrence of packed-ice generating in the Ice Spikes variant. As the tundra is a cold biome, it snows rather than rains, and thus lightning never strikes in these biomes.

Variants

There are a total of three snowy tundra biome variants.

Snowy Tundra

Snowy Tundra

Type	Snowy/Icy
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	0.0
Structures	Igloos Villages ‌[BE & LCE only] ‌[upcoming: JE 1.14] Pillager Outposts‌[upcoming: JE 1.14 & BE 1.10]
Blocks	Snow Grass Block Ice Spruce Log Spruce Leaves Oak Log Oak Leaves
Data value	dec: 12 hex: C bin: 1100
Biome ID	snowy_tundra

This is the standard and most abundant Snowy Tundra variant. It features characteristically flat snow-covered plains and sparsely scattered trees. Igloos can generate in this biome, and Polar Bears and Strays are able to spawn here.

Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

Type	Snowy/Icy
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	0.0
Blocks	Snow Grass Ice Spruce Log Spruce Leaves Oak Log Oak Leaves
Data value	dec: 13 hex: D bin: 1101
Biome ID	snowy_mountains

These hills are rather taller than most other hill biomes in the game, with heights comparable to the mountains biome, though with less erratic terrain generation. Neither igloos or villages generate in this biome, though polar bears and strays still spawn. Caves frequently generate on the sides of the mountains.

Ice Spikes

Ice Spikes

Type	Snowy/Icy
Rarity	Rare
Temperature	0.0
Structures	Ice spikes
Blocks	Packed Ice Snow Block Snow Grass Ice
Data value	dec: 140 hex: 8C bin: 10001100
Biome ID	ice_spikes

This rare variant features large numbers of packed ice spikes across its landscape. Additionally, all grass blocks are replaced with snow blocks, and glaciers-like lakes of packed ice generate as well. The spikes come in two sizes; a short, wide spike, and a tall, thin spike. The short spikes generate much more often than the tall spikes. Short spikes are about 10-20 blocks tall, while tall spikes can be over 50 blocks tall. Prior to 1.13, this biome was the only source of packed ice in the game. Neither igloos nor villages generate in this biome, though polar bears and strays still spawn.

In addition to the ice spikes, the terrain in this biome is more erratic and taller than the regular tundra, comparable to the snowy mountains. Trees do not generate in this variant either, making wood very difficult to come by. Snow layers can still form atop the snow blocks, making them seem taller than they actually are. Players may camp out atop the ice spikes during nighttime and avoid most hostile mobs.

History

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.4					Added Winter Mode.
					Maps will now have a snowy or grassy theme randomly determined when creating the world.
v1.2.0					Added biomes, including tundras and frozen deserts.
Java Edition Beta
1.8			?		Biomes have now recieved an overhaul, removing the tundra. See here for more details.
Java Edition
1.0.0			September 15, 2011		Notch teased a screenshot of what he called "snow biomes".
			?		Tundras have now been re-added.
					Tundras have now been renamed to ice plains.
1.7.2			13w36a		An ice plains spikes variant has now been added, along with many other biomes.
1.9			15w43a		Added igloos, which will now generate in ice plains and cold taigas.
1.10			16w20a		Polar bears and strays have now added; both will now spawn in ice plains and variants.
					Ice plains, ice plains spikes and ice mountains will now no longer spawn most passive mobs.
1.13			18w19a		Renamed Ice Plains to Snowy Tundra.
					Renamed Ice Mountains to Snowy Mountains.
					Renamed Ice Plains Spikes to Ice Spikes.
			pre5		Changed the ID ice_flats to snowy_tundra.
					Changed the ID ice_mountains to snowy_mountains.
					Changed the ID mutated_ice_flats to ice_spikes.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.14			18w49a		Villages can now spawn in snowy tundras.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Added biomes, which includes snowy tundras.
0.9.0			build 1		Added the ice spike biome and many other biomes.
0.13.0			build 1		Added rabbits, which can now spawn in snowy tundra biomes.
0.14.0			build 1		Chickens, cows, pigs and sheep will now rarely spawn in snowy tundras.
0.15.0			build 1		Added strays, which can now spawn in snowy tundra biomes and variants.
					Villages can now generate in snowy tundra biomes.
Pocket Edition
1.0			alpha 0.17.0		Added igloos, which can now generate in snowy tundras.
					Added polar bears, which can now spawn in snowy tundra biomes and variants.
Bedrock Edition
1.10			beta 1.10.0.3		Added pillager outposts which can generate in snowy tundra biomes.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.00	Patch 1		Added the ice plains biome, along with changes to many other biomes.
TU7					Tundras have now been re-added.
					Tundras have now been renamed to ice plains.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Added igloos and polar bears, which are both features of ice plains.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Added strays, which can now spawn in ice plains.

Gallery

• 

  An igloo on the shore of a frozen lake, with some polar bears.

• 

  A pumpkin patch in the tundra. Ice Spikes and Snowy Taiga Mountains biomes can be seen in the distance.

• 

  A Snowy Mountains biome that generated as only a single overhang.

• 

  Another view of ice spikes.

• 

  Ice spikes that generate on overhangs can create "icefalls", such as this.

See also

• Snowy Taiga
• Mountains