A snowy taiga biome in Java Edition.
A snowy taiga is an uncommon snowy biome, often generating adjacent to or within a snowy tundra. The biome family includes three individual biome variants.
Contents
Description[]
Snowy taigas are technically the coldest biomes in the game.
Snowy taigas are similar to their snowless varieties, featuring large numbers of spruce trees, rabbits, white-coated foxes and wolves. Aqua-colored plants like ferns and sweet berry bushes are less common compared to snowless taigas.
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 terrain is also less flat than regular taigas; the gelid temperatures 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.
Occasionally, igloos may generate within the trees as in snowy tundras. Villages and outposts can't generate here.[JE only][1]
Bedrock Edition[]
Most of the snow layers are stacked, the water has a purplish tone and the leaves of the trees become white as in snowy tundras during snowfalls. Villages and pillager outposts can generate as well.
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 tundra outfit.
After a snowfall.
The white fox in natural habitat.
The start of a snowfall.
An igloo.
A snowy tundra village bordering a snowy taiga.
An artwork from Mojang Studios.
Variants[]
There are a total of three different snowy taiga biome varieties.
Snowy Taiga[]
| Type |
Snowy/Icy |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Uncommon |
| Temperature |
-0.5 |
| Structures |
Igloos |
| Blocks |
Grass Block |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
This is the standard and most common snowy taiga variant. Igloos can generate here, as can villages and outposts In Bedrock Edition.
Mobs[]
In Java Edition:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Passive category | ||
| Sheep | 12⁄60 | 4 |
| Pig | 10⁄60 | 4 |
| Chicken | 10⁄60 | 4 |
| Cow | 8⁄60 | 4 |
| Wolf | 8⁄60 | 4 |
| Rabbit[note 1] | 4⁄60 | 2–3 |
| Fox[note 2] | 8⁄60 | 2–4 |
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Zombie | 95⁄515 | 4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄515 | 1 |
| Skeleton | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Creeper | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Slime[note 3] | 100⁄515 | 4 |
| Enderman | 10⁄515 | 1–4 |
| Witch | 5⁄515 | 1 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 10⁄10 | 8 |
In Bedrock Edition:
| Mob | Spawn chance | Group size |
|---|---|---|
| Passive category | ||
| Sheep | 12⁄60 | 2–3 |
| Pig | 10⁄60 | 1–3 |
| Chicken | 10⁄60 | 2–4 |
| Cow | 8⁄60 | 2–3 |
| Wolf | 8⁄60 | 4 |
| Rabbit[note 1] | 4⁄60 | 2–3 |
| Fox[note 2] | 8⁄60 | 2–4 |
| Hostile category | ||
| Spider | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Zombie | 95⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Zombie Villager | 5⁄495 | 2–4 |
| Skeleton | 80⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Creeper | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Slime[note 3] | 100⁄495 | 1 |
| Enderman | 10⁄495 | 1–2 |
| Witch | 5⁄495 | 1 |
| Ambient category | ||
| Bat | 10⁄10 | 2 |
Snowy Taiga Hills[]
| Type |
Snowy/Icy |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Uncommon |
| Temperature |
-0.5 |
| Structures |
Villages[BE only] |
| Blocks |
Grass Block |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
Like all other hills biomes, snowy taiga hills feature hillier, more erratic terrain. These hills are somewhat steep, making this variant difficult for survival mode. Pillager outposts and villages can generate in this biome[BE only], however, unlike the regular snowy taiga, igloos cannot generate here.
Snowy taiga hills use the same mob spawning chances as snowy taigas.
Snowy Taiga Mountains[]
| Type |
Snowy/Icy |
|---|---|
| Rarity |
Rare |
| Temperature |
-0.5 |
| Blocks |
Grass Block |
| Grass color |
|
| Foliage color |
|
| Water color |
The very rare snowy taiga mountains features much steeper terrain than the hills. Similarly to the taiga mountains, this variant can reach high elevations. The steep elevations make this biome difficult for survival. Buildings do not generate here. This biome is the third rarest in the game, behind modified badlands plateau and modified jungle edge.
Snowy taiga mountains use the same mob spawning chances as snowy taigas.
There are no "snowy giant tree taigas".
Data values[]
ID[]
| Name | Resource location | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Snowy Taiga | snowy_taiga | biome.minecraft.snowy_taiga |
| Snowy Taiga Hills | snowy_taiga_hills | biome.minecraft.snowy_taiga_hills |
| Snowy Taiga Mountains | snowy_taiga_mountains | biome.minecraft.snowy_taiga_mountains |
| Name | Resource location | Numeric ID |
|---|---|---|
| [No displayed name] | cold_taiga | 30 |
| [No displayed name] | cold_taiga_hills | 31 |
| [No displayed name] | cold_taiga_mutated | 158 |
History[]
An old snowy taiga in Pocket Edition v0.7.0 alpha.
| Java Edition Alpha | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.2.0 | preview | Added taigas, which are snowy biomes with oak trees. | |||
| At this point, all taigas are snowy, and snowy taiga doesn't exist as a separate biome. | |||||
| Java Edition Beta | |||||
| 1.2 | Taigas now generate with spruce trees. | ||||
| 1.6 | Test Build 3 | Tall grass now generates in taiga. | |||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Due to bugs in the new terrain generator, taigas are no longer snowy and therefore resemble the current snowless taigas. | |||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.1 | 11w48a | The bug in Beta 1.8 has been fixed, so taigas again generate with snow. | |||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | The default taiga biome now generates without snow. | |||
| A dedicated snowy taiga biome has been added, known as "Cold Taiga" and is now much rarer. | |||||
| Both types of taigas now generate with ferns. | |||||
| 1.13 | 18w16a | Renamed Cold Taiga M to Mutated Cold Taiga. | |||
| 18w19a | Renamed Cold Taiga to Snowy Taiga. | ||||
| Renamed Cold Taiga Hills to Snowy Taiga Hills. | |||||
| Renamed Mutated Cold Taiga to Snowy Taiga Mountains. | |||||
| pre5 | Changed the ID taiga_cold to snowy_taiga. | ||||
Changed the ID taiga_cold_hills to snowy_taiga_hills. | |||||
Changed the ID mutated_taiga_cold to snowy_taiga_mountains. | |||||
| 1.14 | 18w49a | Sweet berry bushes are now rarely found in snowy taigas. | |||
| 19w07a | Added foxes, which spawn in snowy taigas with white fur. | ||||
| Upcoming Java Edition | |||||
| 1.18 | Experimental Snapshot 1 | Villages now spawn in snowy taiga biomes. | |||
| Snowy taiga hills and snowy taiga mountains no longer generate | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| v0.1.0 | Added biomes, including snowy taigas. | ||||
| v0.9.0 | build 1 | Added snowless taiga and variants, making the snowy taiga much rarer. | |||
| Added wolves, which spawn in snowy taigas. | |||||
| v0.13.0 | build 1 | Added rabbits, which can spawn in snowy taigas. | |||
| v0.15.0 | build 1 | Villages now generate in snowy taigas. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Added igloos that now generate in snowy taigas. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Added pillager outposts, which can generate in snowy taigas. | |||
| Added sweet berry bushes, which rarely generate in snowy taigas. | |||||
| 1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Added illager patrols, which can spawn in snowy taigas. | |||
| 1.13.0 | beta 1.13.0.1 | Added foxes, which can spawn in snowy taigas. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added (snowy) taigas. |
| TU5 | Biomes overhauled, removing (snowy) taigas. | ||||
| TU9 | Re-added (snowy) taigas. | ||||
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Added snowless taiga and variants, making the snowy taiga much rarer. | |
| 1.91 | Added pillager outposts, which can spawn in snowy biomes. | ||||
| Added sweet berry bushes, which rarely generate in snowy taigas. | |||||
Gallery[]
Snowy taiga.
Snowy taiga mountains.
A large overhang, with a cave and a frozen lake underneath it, that generated as part of snowy taiga mountains.
Snowy taiga hills.
Another view of snowy taiga hills.
