So, I've been reading about Skyrim lore, the Pocket Guide talks about lethal winters, freezing environments, snowy valleys and mountains, it's mentioned that Nords can withstand the cold better than anybody (Nords are hairier than other Human races, and even have "resist frost" abilities in the games), Bruma homes are said to be built like homes in Skyrim to preserve the heat, and there are various sources that say Skyrim is cold and snowy, from NPCs, to books.

Yet people seem to think that it's going to be very temperate once you get away from the areas of mountains, like New York, Canada, or England, and I don't exactly see why since I haven't seen any sources (besides people's speculation) saying that Skyrim will not be very cold and very snowy almost all over. Even everyone's favorite myth about the vampires living under frozen lakes take place in East Skyrim. Mountain lakes, are ironically usually formed by Glaciers so that would probably mean that the were from melted glaciers, and melted glaciers usually don't freeze over permanently, and if they're not in the mountains, then they've gotta be cold. Since what I've read talks about snowy valleys and mountains alike, it seems more likely that it would be at a lower altitude where it would be warmer, but if the lake is frozen over year-round... it's under 32 degrees there year round... which would mean... it snows there year round.

Anyway, that's just the Mountainous East, there's gotta be some foresty-places. The Mountainous South where Bruma's located where there's snow year-round? Well then it's gotta be the North that's warm, except that lore has stated that the seas to Atmora were ice-choked, and if there are snowy mountains and valleys in the East, how could it possibly be warm in the north if Tamriel's in the Northern Hemisphere? And, I'd like to note, that Black Marsh and Elsweyr are Warm Desert/Tropcial climates, which would mean they're probably close to the Tamrielic Equator, and Atmora's to the north, which means that Tamriel's in the Northern Hemisphere, and you'd get colder as you go further north. Bruma's high up, but so are the other mountains to the south that aren't cold. There's also the original Elven inhabitants of Skyrim, the Falmer, who had a coat of white-blue ice over their skin and would obviously need temperatures below the freezing point to keep frozen.

I'm just wondering where people got the idea that most of it isn't snowy and cold, because I haven't found anything to back it up. :shrug:

What we do know, is that it is mountainous and in certain areas (if not all) it is rather cold. The cold can be presumed by it's location, north of snowy Bruma, but it may still be a bit warmer on the eastern border. Still, you never know, as Bethesda has changed aspects like this in the past (the Cyrodiil jungle shenanigans and they diversified Vvardenfell a bit from what had been established in Arena/Daggerfall).

Very true. It's sort-of sad when you can't rely on lore to predict how a whole entire country will look.

Thank you for replying!

Even if Skyrim is as cold as, say, Norway, that still leaves it fairly warm. A quick internet search reveals that low 70s is average for summer, which is a very comfortable temperature. Siberia (i.e. stereotypically cold-all-year Russia) has an average high in the mid 70s during the summer. Murmansk, north of the freaking arctic circle, can get highs in the high 80s during the summer. In other words, unless Skyrim is located smack dab on the middle of the north pole, or there is some weird geomagic going on, theres no way its constantly freezing and snowing.

That is not to say that the mountains, which we know to be the highest in Tamriel, are not always snowy and cold. It also doesn't mean that its not cold during the winter (Murmanks seems to average in the teens during the winter).


There is no lore on what the Falmer looked like. The UESP thing about ice blue skin is pulled out of some barely passable speculation about the Reiklins being descended from Falmer. I should probably clean it up.

Ohhh, I thought I read that on the Imperial Library (I read about it possibly over a year ago), and it got me all mixed up.

Thank you for clearing that up.

And thank you for clearing up everything else. Wouldn't it be interesting if they made certain passages and things un-accessible during the summer months because they'd melt? I'm drawing some concept art because... I've got nothing better to do. So I wanted to know if what I was thinking what it looked like was accurate... which it isn't... I'll just call it Atmora, finish it up quick, and get to work on a more realistic depiction of Skyrim.

Thanks again!