Snowy Tundra
The snowy tundra is an uncommon snowy and 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.
Contents
Description[edit]
The tundra is vast and covered with snow layers, which are often stacked in Bedrock Edition. Spruce trees, tall grass, dandelions, and poppies generate infrequently, breaking the snow layers. The exposed grass and leaves take an aqua tone. Lakes generate more or less frequently, though freeze over soon after generation due to the temperature if not exposed to light; thus, any sugar cane that generates alongside these lakes 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.
Like in snowy taigas, igloos are found. They are 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, snow blocks, blue ice and packed ice. Unique to the tundra, along with frozen rivers, frozen oceans, and ice spikes, are polar bears and strays, the latter a variant of the skeleton, that shoot arrows of Slowness.
Survival in the tundra is quite difficult due to the sparseness of the biome and the lack of animals; only polar bears and rabbits may naturally spawn here, though cows, sheep, pigs and horses may spawn as part of villages. Infrequent spruce trees are the only natural 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 ice spikes towers generating in the Ice Spikes variant that can be used for a base. As the tundra is a snowy biome, it snows rather than rains, so lightning never strikes in these biomes.
Variants[edit]
There are a total of three snowy tundra biome variants.
Snowy Tundra[edit]
| Type |
Snowy/Icy |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Uncommon |
| Temperature |
0.0 |
| Structures | |
| Blocks | |
| Grass color |
aqua |
| Water color |
purple |
This is the standard and most abundant Snowy Tundra variant. It features characteristically flat snow-covered plains and sparsely scattered spruce trees, with the occasional igloos, villages, and pillager outposts. Polar bears, rabbits and strays are able to spawn here. In Bedrock Edition, no hostile mobs other than strays and skeletons can naturally spawn here, excluding spawners and raids.
In Java Edition :
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Passive category | ||
| Rabbit[note 1] | 10⁄11 | 2–3 |
| Polar Bear | 1⁄11 | 1–2 |
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Zombie | 95⁄515 | 4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄515 | 1 |
| Creeper | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Slime[note 2] | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Enderman | 10⁄515 | 1–4 |
| Witch | 5⁄515 | 1 |
| Skeleton | 20⁄515 | 4 |
| Stray | 80⁄515 | 4 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 10⁄10 | 8 |
In Bedrock Edition :
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Hostile category | ||
| Stray | 96⁄120 | 1–2 |
| Skeleton | 24⁄120 | 1–2 |
| Passive category | ||
| Rabbit[note 1] | 4⁄5 | 2–3 |
| Polar Bear | 1⁄5 | 1–2 |
- ↑ 80% of spawned rabbits are white and 20% are black and white.
Snowy Mountains[edit]
These hills are taller than most other hill biomes in the game, with heights comparable to the mountains biome, though with a less erratic terrain generation. No structures generate in this biome, though polar bears, rabbits and strays still spawn. Caves frequently generate on the sides of the mountains. In Bedrock Edition, no hostile mobs other than strays and skeletons may naturally spawn here.
Snowy mountains use the same mob spawning chances as snowy tundras.
Ice Spikes[edit]
This rare variant features large numbers of packed ice spikes across its landscape. Additionally, all grass blocks are replaced with snow blocks, and glaciers of packed ice generate as well instead of lakes. The spikes come in two sizes: a short, wide spike, and a tall, thin spike. The short spikes generate more often than the tall spikes. Short spikes are about 15 blocks tall, while tall spikes can be over 50 blocks tall. Prior to the Update Aquatic, this biome was the only source of packed ice in the game. No buildings may generate in this biome, though polar bears, rabbits 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. Snow layers still form atop the snow blocks, making them seem taller than they actually are.
In Java Edition, ice spikes use the same mob spawning chances as snowy tundras.
In Bedrock Edition, ice spikes use the same mob spawning chances as snowy tundras for passive categories. As for the others:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄535 | 1 |
| Zombie | 95⁄535 | 2–4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄535 | 2–4 |
| Skeleton | 24⁄535 | 1–2 |
| Creeper | 100⁄535 | 1 |
| Slime[note 1] | 100⁄535 | 1 |
| Enderman | 10⁄535 | 1–2 |
| Witch | 5⁄535 | 1 |
| Stray | 96⁄535 | 1–2 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
Data values[edit]
ID[edit]
| Name | Namespaced ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Snowy Tundra | snowy_tundra | biome.minecraft.snowy_tundra |
| Snowy Mountains | snowy_mountains | biome.minecraft.snowy_mountains |
| Ice Spikes | ice_spikes | biome.minecraft.ice_spikes |
| Name | Namespaced ID | Numeric ID |
|---|---|---|
| [No displayed name] | ice_plains | 12 |
| [No displayed name] | ice_mountains | 13 |
| [No displayed name] | ice_plains_spikes | 140 |
History[edit]
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.0.4 | Added Winter Mode. | ||||
| Maps now have a snowy or grassy theme randomly determined when creating the world. | |||||
| v1.2.0 | preview | Added biomes, including tundras and frozen deserts. | |||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | 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".[1][2] | |||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease | Tundras have been re-added. | ||||
| Tundras have been renamed to ice plains. | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | An ice plains spikes variant has been added, along with many other biomes. | |||
| 1.9 | 15w43a | Added igloos, which now generate in ice plains and cold taigas. | |||
| 1.10 | 16w20a | Polar bears and strays have now added; both now spawn in ice plains and variants. | |||
| Ice plains, ice plains spikes and ice mountains 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. | |||||
| 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 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 | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Added igloos, which can now generate in snowy tundras. | |||
| Added polar bears, which can now spawn in snowy tundra biomes and variants. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| ? | Chickens, cows, sheep, and pigs no longer spawn in snowy tundra biomes and variants. | ||||
| Zombies, creepers, spiders, endermen, and witches no longer spawn in snowy tundra and snowy mountains biomes. | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Added pillager outposts, which can generate in snowy tundra biomes. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU5 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added the ice plains biome, along with changes to many other biomes. |
| TU7 | Tundras have been re-added. | ||||
| Tundras have 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. | |
| 1.91 | Added pillager outposts, which can generate in snowy tundra biomes. | ||||
Gallery[edit]
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 a single overhang.
Another view of ice spikes.
Ice spikes that generate under overhangs can create "icefalls", such as this.
An Ice Plains biome in Beta 1.9 after it was re-added for the new world generator.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
