Weddell seal numbers in 2025 have declined sharply on Signy Island, part of the South Orkney Islands in the Southern Ocean, where British Antarctic Survey researchers have tracked seal populations for nearly 50 years to understand the impact of melting sea ice. (Photo by Michael Dunn/The Times)

Fans of Chris Mazdzer of the United States including his girlfriend Mara Marian (C) react following his third run during the Luge Men's Singles on day two of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Olympic Sliding Centre on February 11, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Yanira Villarreal, left, Ayde Choque, center, and Milenda Limachi, wearings masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic and dressed as a “Cholita” pose for a photo with their skateboards during a youth talent show in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, September 30, 2020. Young women called “Skates Imillas”, using the Aymara word for girl Imilla, use traditional Indigenous clothing as a statement of pride of their Indigenous culture while playing riding their skateboards. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Aide Choque, wearing a mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic, jumps with her skateboard during a youth talent show in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, September 30, 2020. Young women called “Skates Imillas”, using the Aymara word for girl Imilla, use traditional Indigenous clothing as a statement of pride of their Indigenous culture while playing riding their skateboards. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP Photo)

Figure skating couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates, of the USA, practice their dance routine during a training session at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Thursday, February 3, 2022, in Beijing. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)

Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for “penitent-shaped snows”), are a snow formation found at high altitudes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun.

Sunrise over Maridalsvannet in the forest areas near the outskirts of Oslo, the capital of Norway. Winter is approaching, the first snow covers the ground, and the water has already got a thin layer of ice. The temperature is significantly below the freezing point, the air is clear and the sun colors the morning clouds in deep tones. (Photo by Tore-Thiis-Fjeld/Getty Images)

Lazar and his sister Andjelka sit by a candle in their home in the eastern Serbian town of Majdanpek, December 4, 2014. Electricity workers in Serbia struggled through snow, ice and treacherous terrain on Thursday to restore electricity to an eastern town left shivering without power, heating or running water for a fourth day. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)