10 Facts About Winter Weather You Won't Believe Are True

Winter weather bringing you down? Let GEICO raise those frozen eyebrows with some unbelievable facts about winter's signature moves.

1. In winter, it's possible to walk from the U.S. to Russia.

NASA / Public Domain / Via en.wikipedia.org

Sort of. The Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait contain both U.S. and Russian land (Big Diomede is Russian, Little Diomede is the United States). During winter, an icy bridge forms between them, making it physically possible to walk from one country to the other.

2. Certain types of tree frogs freeze solid and come back to life when it gets warm again.

Tamara Masters / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flic.kr

It's just like time travel.

3. It's possible for all 167 feet of Niagara Falls to be frozen at once.

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It was so cold in the winter of 1848, Niagara Falls was entirely frozen. For 30 hours in March of that year, locals who had grown accustomed to the noisy falls were treated to absolute silence.

4. The Eiffel Tower is shorter than usual.

Marie-Lan Nguyen / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flic.kr

The summer sun causes the tower to expand slightly, giving it a height boost of up to about 6.75 inches. Thus the tower is shorter during the winter.

5. One winter it was so cold, you could walk from Manhattan to Staten Island.

Anthony Quintano / Creative Commons / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flic.kr

OK, so technically it only happened once in the winter of 1780, but still. IT'S POSSIBLE.

6. The Mourning Cloak butterfly can survive extreme cold because it has antifreeze in its blood.

Jason Sturner / Creative Commons / CC BY http://2.0 / Via flic.kr

Seriously. It's like a tiny little anti-winter machine with wings.

7. Chionophobia is a real disorder. A chionophobic is someone who is deathly afraid of snow.

Shannon / Creative Commons / CC BY-SA http://2.0 / Via flic.kr

Hard to know the joy of anticipating a snow day if you're dreading waking up to a pile of snow in your yard. Time to move to Florida!

8. Antarctica is technically a desert, and it rarely snows there.

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The snow and ice covering the continent is the result of years of accumulation.

9. Contrary to popular belief, Eskimos do NOT have over 50 words for snow.

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It's more like four.

10. And finally, 80% of the world's fresh water supply is trapped in snow and ice.

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Consider only 3% of the world's water is fresh water, and think about how much snow and ice there is in the world. That's an insane amount of water!

Did you know if a tree falls in winter, it still makes a sound?