150 Best Winter Trivia Questions and Answers (In 2024)
Winter Trivia Questions are your gateway to the chilliest season. From weather patterns to sports and holidays, delve into all the facets of winter.
Cozy up with a warm drink and blanket. Then, enhance your understanding of this frosty season!
Winter Weather Trivia
From cold weather to snow trivia, try out these winter trivia facts.
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1. What is the shortest day of the year called?
Answer: The winter solstice
2. Which has a colder winter- the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere?
Answer: Northern Hemisphere
3. How fast do snowflakes fall on average?
Answer: 3 to 4 mph
4. What occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it, leading to dangerously low body temperature?
Answer: Hypothermia
5. What injury is caused by freezing of the skin and underlying tissues?
Answer: Frostbite
6. Although counterintuitive, what month is Earth closest to the Sun?
Answer: January
7. What is winter in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres caused by?
Answer: Earth’s axis is tilted away from the Sun.
8. For meteorologists, what are the three calendar winter months in the Northern Hemisphere?
Answer: December, January, and February
Related: December Trivia Quiz
9. For meteorologists, what are the three calendar winter months in the Southern Hemisphere?
Answer: June, July, and August
10. What winter storm is defined by reduced visibility, strong winds, and a duration of at least 3 hours?
Answer: Blizzard
11. How many sides does a snowflake have?
Answer: 6 (source)
12.
Answer: 15 inches wide
13. Cold, non-humid air is clearer in the winter which allows the colors of what to shine more clearly?
Answer: The Sun
14. What is put down to thaw roads and sidewalks?
Answer: Rock salt
15. True or False: You can get a sunburn from snow.
Answer: True
16. What is the fear of snow called?
Answer: Chionophobia
17. What is the actual color of a snowflake?
Answer: Translucent
18. What is a chinook?
Answer: A winter wind
19. What are the small white crystals formed on surfaces during the winter?
Answer: Frost
20. What causes Watermelon snow that is pink or red in color?
Answer: Algae
21. The most snowfall ever recorded in 24 hours in the United States was 75.8 inches. Where did this happen?
Answer: Silver Lake, Colorado in 1921
22. What are the powerful winter storms called on the East Coast of North America?
Answer: Nor’easters
23. What effect occurs when cold air passes over warmer lake waters, picking up moisture and creating heavy snowfall downwind?
Answer: Lake-effect snow
24. What is the thin layer of ice on roadways that can be nearly invisible but extremely slippery?
Answer: Black ice
25. How tall was the largest snowman ever built?
A) 50 feet
B) 101 feet
C) 113 feet
D) 126 feet
Answer: C- 113 feet and 7 inches (source)
Related:
Winter Animal Trivia
Name the animal commonly associated with winter for this picture trivia quiz.
30. Living in high elevation protects this animal from predators. What animal is pictured?
31. The animal pictured has feathered feet to help it walk on snow. What is it?
32. What is the only insect that migrates to a warmer climate (that is 2,500 miles away) each year?
Answer: Monarch butterflies- They fly to Mexico for the winter.
33. What color does the arctic fox’s fur turn during the winter?
Answer: White
34. How do emperor penguins keep their eggs warm during winter?
Answer: The male penguin rests the egg on his feet and covers it with a fold of warm skin.
35. Along with nuts and seeds, red squirrels dry out what other food to store for the winter?
Answer: Mushrooms
36. When bears sleep during the winter, what is it called?
Answer: Hibernation
37. What amphibian buries itself on the forest floor and goes dormant with the heart temporarily stopping to beat?
Answer: Wood frog
38. What New Zealand bug freezes solid during winter?
Answer: The weta
39. What animal famously predicts the length of winter every February?
Answer: A groundhog
40. What insect in the town of Vermilion predicts the winter weather?
Answer: Wooly Bear Caterpillar
41. What red bird sticks around in snowy winters instead of migrating?
Answer: The cardinal
42. What bird species survive in Antarctica’s winter?
Answer: The Emperor Penguin
43. What animal is known for its large, snowshoe-like hind feet and seasonal fur color change?
Answer: A snowshoe hare
44. What large mammals are excellent swimmers and can swim for several hours in icy waters?
Answer: Polar bears
45. What animal has the densest fur of any land mammal? It helps them stay warm in the Andes Mountains.
Answer: Chinchillas
46. What animals have a dewlap, a flap of skin under their throat, which helps regulate their body temperature?
Answer: Moose
47. What animal migrates long distances between polar feeding grounds and warmer breeding areas?
Answer: Humpback whales
48. What small crustaceans play a crucial role in the Southern Ocean food web?
Answer: Antarctic krill
49. What Antarctic animals stay submerged for long periods while hunting beneath the ice?
Answer: Weddell seals
50. What animal gathers and stores food in “hay piles” to sustain them through the winter?
Answer: Pika
Related:
Winter Olympic and Sports Trivia
Name the winter sport for this picture quiz.
64. Where were the first Winter Olympic Games held?
Answer: France
65. Which country is the only one to have won a medal at every Olympic Winter Games?
Answer: United States
66. What is the first city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics?
Answer: Beijing
67. What country has won the most medals in the Winter Olympics?
Answer: Norway
68. What year was the first Winter Olympics held?
Answer: 1924
69. Which winter Olympic sport involves sliding large stones toward a target?
Answer: Curling
70. What is the most popular winter sport in the U.S.?
Answer: Skiing
71. What is the traditional winter sport of Canada?
Answer: Ice hockey
72. In the Winter Olympics, a Biathlon combines cross-country skiing and what other sport?
Answer: Rifle shooting
73. What is the name used to describe the person participating in the luge?
Answer: Slider
74. What is the name of the dogsled race that goes from Anchorage to Nome?
Answer: The Iditarod
75. In North American skiing, what color symbol marks beginner slopes?
Answer: Green
Related:
Movie & Entertainment Trivia About Winter
76. What winter-set Disney movie is the highest-grossing animated musical film of all time?
Answer: Frozen (Check out Frozen Trivia Quiz Questions)
77. Who voices Elsa in the movie Frozen?
Answer: Idina Menzel
78. Which actor played six different roles in The Polar Express?
Answer: Tom Hanks (Related: Christmas Movie Trivia Quiz)
79. What is the name of the Grinch’s dog?
Answer: Max
80. What environmental disaster is the central focus of The Day After Tomorrow (2004)?
Answer: Global warming and climate change
81. In Home Alone 1, where does Kevin’s family end up for the holidays?
Answer: Paris (Check out Home Alone Trivia Quiz Questions)
82. In the movie Ice Age, what is the name of the ground sloth?
Answer: Sid
83. Where does Buddy the Elf grow up?
Answer: The North Pole
84. Who has the mark in the shape of a bowtie in Happy Feet?
Answer: Mumble
85. In White Christmas, where does General Waverly have a winter ski resort?
Answer: Vermont
86. Who wrote the play ‘A Winter’s Tale’?
Answer: William Shakespeare
87. In what popular series is the phrase “Winter is Coming” from?
Answer: Game of Thrones
88. In the 90s movie Cool Runnings, which winter sport is the Jamaican team playing?
Answer: Bobsledding
89. In what movie does Billy Murray play the main character, Phil Connors?
Answer: Groundhog Day (1993)
90. Who is the keeper of the Keys & Grounds at Hogwarts? He’s also friends with Harry Potter.
Answer: Hagrid
(Check out Harry Potter Trivia Quiz Questions)
91. In the Harry Potter movie, what drink would you order at the Leaky Cauldron?
Answer: Butterbeer
92. What movie set in Antarctica features a Deputy U.S. Marshal who has been working there for two years but then gets delayed by a crime?
Answer: Whiteout (2009)
93. In what movie does a boy get his tongue stuck to a pole because of a triple-dog-dare?
Answer: A Christmas Story (See more A Christmas Story movie trivia)
94. What makes Frosty come to life in Frosty The Snowman?
Answer: A magician’s hat
95. In what classic movie does a guardian angel jump into freezing water, forcing a man contemplating suicide to rescue him?
Answer: It’s A Wonderful Life
96. The Vermont Inn in the movie White Christmas was used a decade before in what movie set?
Answer: Holiday Inn
97. Which holiday was celebrated first at the Holiday Inn in the movie Holiday Inn?
Answer: New Year’s (See New Years Trivia Quiz)
98. Hans Gruber and John McClane meet at a holiday party in what movie?
Answer: Die Hard
99. What is the name of the hotel in The Shining that the family lives in over the winter?
Answer: The Overlook Hotel
100. What book by C.S. Lewis has the character the White Witch?
Answer: “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”
Related:
Travel & Geography Trivia
101. What continent has the coldest temperature ever recorded at -123 degrees Celcius?
Answer: Antarctica
102. What percentage of Earth’s land surface is covered in snow and ice?
Answer: Around 12%
103. What is the coldest country in the world?
Answer: Greenland (Denmark) (source)
104. Where do people go to witness the winter solstice in the UK?
Answer: Stonehenge
105. In what European country could you visit to stay in an ice hotel?
Answer: Sweden
106. Where could you visit to best see the Northern Lights?
Answer: Norway
107. What European city is home to the Winter Palace?
Answer: Saint Petersburg
108. What country has received the most snowfall in the 21st century?
Answer: Japan
109. What European country has the largest ski resort?
Answer: France
110. What U.S. state has the most ski resorts?
Answer: New York
111. What is the famous Russian fur hat worn in the winter called?
Answer: Ushanka
112. Which U.S. state has the most snow days per year?
Answer: Alaska
113. What country does the Winter Festival of Lights take place in?
Answer: Canada
114. Which body of water separates Russia and Alaska? It can be crossed by foot during the winter.
Answer: The Bering Strait
115. What is the Aurora Borealis also known as?
Answer: The Northern Lights
116. What is the traditional winter dwelling of the Inuit?
Answer: Igloo
117. Which U.S. city holds the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in the U.S.?
Answer: Fairbanks, Alaska
118. Where can you travel to enjoy a famous annual ice sculpture festival?
Answer: Harbin, China
119. What is the popular mountain range that runs through Europe? It is known for its winter sports destinations.
Answer: The Alps
120. Which country invented the sauna?
Answer: Finland
121. Where can you visit the famous Rockefeller tree?
Answer: New York City
122. What ocean is typically frozen during winter?
Answer: The Arctic Ocean
123. What desert experiences snow despite its warm climate?
Answer: The Sahara Desert
124. Parts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia have permanently frozen ground in various regions. What is this called?
Answer: Permafrost
125. What U.S. mountain range experiences winter snowfall and attracts winter sports enthusiasts in California?
Answer: Sierra Nevada
Related: Best Travel Trivia Questions
Winter Holiday Trivia
There are a large variety of winter holidays. Use these trivia questions to test your knowledge.
126. What winter month is Hannukah usually in?
Answer: December
127. What holiday starts the day after Christmas and ends the first day of the new year?
Answer: Kwanzaa
128. What winter festival takes place in New Orleans?
Answer: Mardi Gras
129. What city famously drops a ball every year on New Year’s Eve?
Answer: New York City
Related: Funny New Year’s Riddles
130. According to legend, what holiday treats were shaped to resemble a
shepherd’s staff? It was a way to remind children of the shepherds who visited baby
Jesus.
Answer: Candy canes
131. What is another popular name for Santa Claus?
Answer: Kris Kringle or Saint Nick
132. Originally from Mexico, this red and green plant is used to decorate homes around Christmas time. What is it?
Answer: Poinsettia
133. Thankfully for Santa, what animal can make clicking noises with their knees to make it easier to stay in the herd during a blizzard?
Answer: Reindeer
134. What Christmas greenery do you traditionally kiss underneath?
Answer: Mistletoe
135. How many candles are on a traditional Hanukkah menorah?
Answer: 9
136. What winter holiday is celebrated on February 14th?
Answer: Valentine’s Day (See: Valentine’s Day Trivia)
137. Who is the name of the winged child that shoots arrows to make people fall in love?
Answer: Cupid
138. What two items are the classic Valentine’s Day gift?
Answer: Flowers and chocolate
139. What is the most popular song associated with New Year’s?
Auld Lang Syne
140. The Chinese New Year does not start on January 1st. What do they use to mark the New Year?
Answer: The lunar moon.
141. What are driedels used for?
Answer: To play a Hanukkah game
142. What country is credited with the creation of the Christmas tree tradition?
Answer: Germany
143. What does the term “Kwanzaa” mean in Swahili?
Answer: First fruits
144. In Italy, on which day do children traditionally receive gifts?
Answer: Epiphany (January 6th)
145. In the U.S., what color is the candle in the center of the Advent wreath?
Answer: White
146. In which country is Boxing Day a public holiday?
Answer: United Kingdom
147. What Christmas dessert began in Roman times when a sweet bread was baked with fruits and nuts?
Answer: Fruitcake (Related: Food Trivia Q & A)
148. What fruit is traditionally placed inside Christmas stockings?
Answer: Orange
149. If you go wassailing, what are you doing?
Answer: Caroling
150. What is observed in the U.S. on the third Monday of January?
Answer: Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Try MLK Trivia)
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What’s Next?
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