December 2005
Skiers in France. © Peter Miller/Photo Researchers  

The hours of daylight dwindle throughout the Northern Hemisphere as winter begins. The first day of winter falls on the December solstice, the shortest day of the year. On this day, the edge of the Arctic Circle sees the pale Sun for just a little more than two hours, and the North Pole, which has had no sunlight since late September, will remain in darkness for 87 more days.

The ermine's winter coat—prized in the fur trade. © Charlie Ott  

Winter Wildlife
Many animals—both hunters such as the Arctic fox and ermine and prey animals such as the snowshoe hare and ptarmigan—turn white to camouflage themselves in the snow. Other animals are asleep in their dens, deep in hibernation in a state of dormancy until spring.

Ice skating in Canada. Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis

  

Snowy Sports
Many people revel in winter, braving the cold to enjoy various wintry sports, from snowboarding and cross-country, alpine, or Nordic skiing to such ice sports as hockey, figure skating, speed skating, and curling.

Although curling dates back to the early 16th century in Scotland, only in the 20th century did it gain international attention. It became an Olympic event at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan and is probably the only sport in which a broom is part of the player's equipment.
 

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Learn about speed skating with this glide stride animation.
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