A single snowfall can make all the difference

WINTER SUN / LETTER FROM AMERICA

Q What is the coldest winter the UK has experienced? A In more recent times the Met Office points to the winter of 1963, which was the coldest since 1740, with temperatures dropping to as low as -20°C

the first month of the year is named after the Roman god Janus. He is often depicted with two heads – one for looking ahead, the other behind. He is also the god of doorways, beginnings, and the risin

By january mountain hares have turned almost fully white, apart from their contrasting ear tips, which seem to have been dipped in black paint. Seeing these charismatic cold-adapted mammals is a highl

Whether winter-faded ferns, the spindly harvestman or the tyrannical stare of an irate chicken, through-lines from the prehistoric to our modern age are all around us in November, says John Lewis-Stempel