Snowy Tundra

Snowy Tundra

Type	Snowy/Icy
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	0.0
Structures	Igloos Villages[Bedrock and Legacy Console editions only]
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

The Snowy Tundra biome (known as the Ice Plains biome before 1.13) is an uncommon snowy/icy biome. It has a total of three variations.

Description

The tundra is a vast, relatively flat plain, 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. 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 Snowy Tundra, along with Snowy Taiga, 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 oceans, 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. As the tundra is a cold biome, it snows rather than rains, and thus lightning never strikes in this biome or its variants.

Variants

Along with the regular tundra, there are two variants of the biome, for a total of three different tundra variations.

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.

This biome was known as Ice Mountains before 1.13.

Ice Spikes

Ice Spikes

Type	Snowy/Icy
Rarity	Rare
Temperature	0.0
Structures	Ice spikes
Blocks	Packed Ice Snow Block Snow Grass Ice Spruce Log Spruce Leaves Oak Log Oak Leaves
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. 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.

This biome was known as Ice Plains Spikes before 1.13.

History

Alpha
v1.0.4					Added Winter Mode. Maps now have a snowy or grassy theme randomly determined when creating the world.
v1.2.0					Added biomes, including tundra and frozen desert.
Beta
1.8			?		Biomes got 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".
			?		Re-added tundra, renamed to Ice Plains.
1.9			15w43a		Added igloos; generate in Ice Plains and Cold Taiga.
1.10			16w20a		Polar bears and strays added; both spawn in Ice Plains and variants.
					Ice Plains, Ice Plains Spikes and Ice Mountains no longer spawn most passive mobs.
1.13			18w16a		Cleaned up several biome names, mainly by adding missing spaces and changing "Biome M" for "Mutated Biome".
			18w19a		Names of several biomes are changed. The exact name changes are listed here.
			pre5		Changed several biome IDs, mostly to comply with their names, listed here.
Pocket Edition Alpha
0.1.0					Added biomes, which included tundra.
0.15.0			build 1		Added strays, which spawn in Ice Plains.
Pocket Edition
1.0			build 1		Added igloos and polar bears, both features of Ice Plains.
Legacy Console Edition
TU5	CU1	1.00	Patch 1		Added Ice Plains biome, along with changes to many other biomes.
TU7					Re-added tundra, renamed to Ice Plains.
TU43	CU33	1.36	Patch 13		Added igloos and polar bears, both features of Ice Plains.
TU46	CU36	1.38	Patch 15		Added strays, which spawn in Ice Plains.

See also

• Snowy Taiga
• Mountains