Snowy Taiga

Snowy Taiga

Structures	Igloo Abandoned Camp Taiga village‌[BE only] Pillager Outpost‌[BE only] Trail Ruins
Features	Spruce Pine
Blocks	Grass Block Snow Fern Sweet Berry Bush Large Fern
Climate
Temperature	-0.5
Downfall	0.4
Precipitation	Yes
Snow accumulation‌[BE only]	0.125-0.5
Colors
Grass color	#80B497
Foliage color	#60A17B
Dry foliage color	#8F7A5A
Water color	#3D57D6‌[JE only]  #205E83‌[BE only]
Vibrant Visuals
Atmospherics	Default
Lighting	Cold
Volumetric fog	Semi-humid
Color grading	Cold

A snowy taiga or cold taiga is an icy biome that comprises a snow-covered forest of pine and spruce trees, ferns and large ferns, and sweet berry bushes, usually generating adjacent to or within snowy plains.

Generation

Snowy taigas generate at very low temperatures where humidity is moderate to high. Snowy plains commonly border them, especially where humidity decreases, and the two are often separated by a frozen river. Higher temperatures or humidity may cause regular taigas to generate instead. Forests, windswept forests, and windswept hills may border snowy taigas.

As erosion lowers near mountainous areas, snowy taigas can transition into large areas of groves, where a snowy taiga sometimes generates as thin biome in the valleys. Near the coast, snowy taigas border frozen oceans either directly or separated by a snowy beach or stony shore.

Lush caves and ice caves​^{[upcoming: Fourth Drop 2026]} are somewhat common under snowy taigas, though all cave biomes may generate.

Description

Snowy taigas are similar to regular taigas, featuring large numbers of spruce trees, ferns, and rabbits. Animals in this biome spawn with their cold variants, foxes spawn as snow foxes, and wolves use a unique ashen variant.

Sweet berry bushes generate, but are less common compared to regular taiga. The main distinction are the snow layers that cover almost the entire landscape, save for the ground protected by the leaves of spruce trees. The gelid temperature of the snowy taiga means that any exposed water freezes into ice, though lakes that generate within the taiga are often partially protected by the leaves of the trees, meaning lakes aren't usually completely frozen.

Igloos and trail ruins may generate here, as well as villages and pillager outposts in Bedrock Edition only. Villages generated here use the same architecture as normal taiga villages, but all of the roofs are covered by stacked snow. The water in village farms is frozen, leading to the crops uprooting. Villagers wear the snowy plains outfit. Abandoned camps sometimes generate in snowy taigas.

In Bedrock Edition the water has a unique tone, and during snowfall snow layers build up and the leaves of the trees become white.

With Vibrant Visuals, snowy taigas use a coolish humid volumetric fog setting, which slightly fades the distance in an orange tint. Snowy taigas have strong cold color grading which tints the environment with an icy blue color, and cold sunlight which appears slightly brighter at dusk and dawn.

Mobs

The following mobs naturally spawn here:

In Java Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100⁄515	4
Skeleton	100⁄515	4
Slime[note 1]	100⁄515	4
Spider	100⁄515	4
Zombie	95⁄515	4
Enderman	10⁄515	1–4
Witch	5⁄515	1
Zombie Villager	5⁄515	1
Creature category
Sheep	12⁄60	4
Cold Chicken	10⁄60	4
Cold Pig	10⁄60	4
Cold Cow	8⁄60	4
Snow Fox	8⁄60	2–4
Ashen Wolf	8⁄60	4
Rabbit	4⁄60	2–3
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid	1	4–6
Ambient category
Bat	1	8

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 515, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Creeper", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Skeleton", "weight": 100 }, { "note": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "mob": "Slime", "weight": 100, "notename": "Slime", "size": "4" }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Spider", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Zombie", "weight": 95 }, { "size": "1-4", "mob": "Enderman", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Witch", "weight": 5 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Zombie Villager", "weight": 5 } ], "category": "monster" }, "2": { "totalWeight": 60, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Sheep", "weight": 12 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Cold Chicken", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Cold Pig", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Cold Cow", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Snow Fox", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "4", "mob": "Ashen Wolf", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Rabbit", "weight": 4 } ], "category": "creature" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "4-6", "mob": "Glow Squid", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "underground" }, "4": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "8", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

In Bedrock Edition

Mob	Spawn weight	Group size
Monster category
Creeper	100	1
Slime[note 1]	100	1
Spider	100	1
Zombie	95	2–4
Skeleton	80	1–2
Enderman	10	1–2
Witch	5	1
Zombie Villager	5	2–4
Creature category
Ashen Wolf	13	4
Sheep	12	2–3
Cold Chicken	10	2–4
Glow Squid	10	2–4
Cold Pig	10	1–3
Cold Cow	8	2–3
Snow Fox	8	2–4
Rabbit	4	2–3
Ambient category
Bat	1	2

{ "hasNotes": true, "notes": { "Slime": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks." }, "1": { "totalWeight": 495, "mobs": [ { "size": "1", "mob": "Creeper", "weight": 100 }, { "note": "Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.", "mob": "Slime", "weight": 100, "notename": "Slime", "size": "1" }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Spider", "weight": 100 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Zombie", "weight": 95 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Skeleton", "weight": 80 }, { "size": "1-2", "mob": "Enderman", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1", "mob": "Witch", "weight": 5 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Zombie Villager", "weight": 5 } ], "category": "monster" }, "2": { "totalWeight": 75, "mobs": [ { "size": "4", "mob": "Ashen Wolf", "weight": 13 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Sheep", "weight": 12 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Cold Chicken", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Glow Squid", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "1-3", "mob": "Cold Pig", "weight": 10 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Cold Cow", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "2-4", "mob": "Snow Fox", "weight": 8 }, { "size": "2-3", "mob": "Rabbit", "weight": 4 } ], "category": "creature" }, "3": { "totalWeight": 10, "mobs": [ { "size": "2", "mob": "Bat", "weight": 10 } ], "category": "ambient" } }

Sounds

Music

These music tracks play while the player is in a snowy taiga:

In Creative mode, the following tracks can play:

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Snowy Taiga	snowy_taiga	biome.minecraft.snowy_taiga

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	cold_taiga	30

Biome definition

{
  "attributes": {
    "minecraft:gameplay/natural_mob_spawns": {
      "argument": {
        "spawn_costs": {},
        "spawns_by_category": {
          "ambient": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:bat",
              "count": 8,
              "weight": 10
            }
          ],
          "creature": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:sheep",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 12
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:pig",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:chicken",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:cow",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 8
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:wolf",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 8
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:rabbit",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 3,
                "min_inclusive": 2
              },
              "weight": 4
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:fox",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 4,
                "min_inclusive": 2
              },
              "weight": 8
            }
          ],
          "monster": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:spider",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:zombie",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 95
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:zombie_villager",
              "count": 1,
              "weight": 5
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:skeleton",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:creeper",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:slime",
              "count": 4,
              "weight": 100
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:enderman",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 4,
                "min_inclusive": 1
              },
              "weight": 10
            },
            {
              "type": "minecraft:witch",
              "count": 1,
              "weight": 5
            }
          ],
          "underground_water_creature": [
            {
              "type": "minecraft:glow_squid",
              "count": {
                "type": "minecraft:uniform",
                "max_inclusive": 6,
                "min_inclusive": 4
              },
              "weight": 10
            }
          ]
        }
      },
      "modifier": "overlay"
    },
    "minecraft:visual/sky_color": "#839eff"
  },
  "carvers": [
    "minecraft:cave",
    "minecraft:cave_extra_underground",
    "minecraft:canyon"
  ],
  "downfall": 0.4,
  "effects": {
    "water_color": "#3d57d6"
  },
  "features": [
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:lake_lava_underground",
      "minecraft:lake_lava_surface"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:amethyst_geode"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:monster_room",
      "minecraft:monster_room_deep"
    ],
    [],
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:ore_dirt",
      "minecraft:ore_gravel",
      "minecraft:ore_granite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_granite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_diorite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_diorite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_andesite_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_andesite_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_tuff",
      "minecraft:ore_coal_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_coal_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_upper",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_middle",
      "minecraft:ore_iron_small",
      "minecraft:ore_gold",
      "minecraft:ore_gold_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_redstone",
      "minecraft:ore_redstone_lower",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_medium",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_large",
      "minecraft:ore_diamond_buried",
      "minecraft:ore_lapis",
      "minecraft:ore_lapis_buried",
      "minecraft:ore_copper",
      "minecraft:underwater_magma",
      "minecraft:disk_sand",
      "minecraft:disk_clay",
      "minecraft:disk_gravel"
    ],
    [],
    [
      "minecraft:spring_water",
      "minecraft:spring_lava"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:glow_lichen",
      "minecraft:patch_large_fern",
      "minecraft:trees_taiga",
      "minecraft:flower_default",
      "minecraft:patch_grass_taiga_2",
      "minecraft:brown_mushroom_taiga",
      "minecraft:red_mushroom_taiga",
      "minecraft:patch_pumpkin",
      "minecraft:patch_sugar_cane",
      "minecraft:patch_firefly_bush_near_water",
      "minecraft:patch_berry_rare"
    ],
    [
      "minecraft:freeze_top_layer"
    ]
  ],
  "has_precipitation": true,
  "temperature": -0.5
}

Achievements

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Adventuring Time	Discover 17 biomes.	Visit any 17 biomes. Does not have to be in a single world.	40	Silver

Advancements

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	Adventuring Time	Discover every biome	Visit all of these 56​[until: Fourth Drop 2026]/57​[upcoming] biomes: Badlands Bamboo Jungle Beach Birch Forest Cherry Grove Cold Ocean Dappled Forest Dark Forest Deep Cold Ocean Deep Dark Deep Frozen Ocean Deep Lukewarm Ocean Deep Ocean Desert Dripstone Caves Eroded Badlands Flower Forest Forest Frozen Ocean Frozen Peaks Frozen River Grove Ice Caves Ice Spikes Jagged Peaks Jungle Lukewarm Ocean Lush Caves Mangrove Swamp Meadow Mushroom Fields Ocean Old Growth Birch Forest Old Growth Pine Taiga Old Growth Spruce Taiga Pale Garden Plains River Savanna Savanna Plateau Snowy Beach Snowy Plains Snowy Slopes Snowy Taiga Sparse Jungle Stony Peaks Stony Shore Sunflower Plains Sulfur Caves Swamp Taiga Warm Ocean Windswept Forest Windswept Gravelly Hills Windswept Hills Windswept Savanna Wooded Badlands The advancement is only for Overworld biomes. Other biomes may also be visited, but are ignored for this advancement.

History

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Legacy Console Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

• 
  An old snowy taiga in Pocket Edition v0.7.0 alpha.
• 
  A snowy taiga in Java Edition Alpha v1.2.6. It uses oak trees as spruce trees didn't exist in this version.
• 
  A snowy taiga in Java Edition Beta 1.7.3.
• 
  A snowy taiga in Java Edition 1.2.1.

Issues

Issues relating to "Snowy Taiga" or "Cold Taiga" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Screenshots

• 
  A snowy taiga that generated bordering a grove. Notice how the snowy taiga uses grass blocks with snow layers as its top layer, while the grove uses snow blocks.
• 
  An igloo in a snowy taiga
• 
  An abandoned camp in a snowy taiga
• 
  A snowy taiga single biome world

Historical screenshots

• 
  After a snowfall
• 
  The start of a snowfall
• 
  An igloo
• 
  More hilly terrain in a snowy taiga biome
• 
  A snowy taiga single biome world before 1.18
• 
  A snowy taiga with ray tracing

Mojang screenshots

• 
  A view at snowy taig
• 
  A spruce cabin in a snowy taiga
• 
  Snowfall beginning in a snowy taiga
• 
  Shattered terrain in a snowy taiga
• 

In other media

• 
  An artwork from Mojang Studios.
• 
  A fox resting beside a campfire while an allay and snow golems lurk behind them.

See also

• Taiga
• Old Growth Spruce Taiga
• Snowy Taiga Hills
• Snowy Taiga Mountains
• Snowy Plains
• Grove

External links

• "Around the Block: Snowy Taiga" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, May 24, 2023.