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)

Allison Callender and Kent Willis, members of Mekanix Gym, a total wellness center, take a cold plunge in ice after a workout at the gym's Shadow Sanctuary facility during hot weather in Houston, Texas, U.S., July 19, 2023. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Roman Cervenka #10 of Czechia celebrates with the trophy and gets a beer thrown on him from his teammates during IHF Ice Hockey World Championship gold medal celebrations with fans at Old Town Square on May 27, 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic. (Photo by RvS.Media/Monika Majer/Getty Images)

Alex Sun, left, Peter Simplicio and Matt Connelly jump through a hole in the ice into Lake Andrews on the Bates College campus, Friday, February 9, 2024, in Lewiston, Maine. The annual Bates College Puddle jump started 50 years ago as a Winter Carnival tradition. (Photo by Andree Kehn/AP Photo)

A woman holds a dressed cat during the exhibition “Autumn-2014” in Minsk, November 23, 2014. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A long skater speeds away on the rain-wet ice on lake Orlangen, South of Stockholm on December 15, 2013. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around 5 degrees for southern Sweden. (Photo by Tobias Rostlund/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Children enjoy a sledge ride past ice swimming fans at the Zalew Zegrzynski lake in Nieporet, Poland, Sunday, February 25, 2018. A cold wave hit Poland with the temperature minus 8 degree Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit) during the day and dropping to minus 16 degree Celsius (3.2 Fahrenheit) in the night in central Poland. (Photo by Alik Keplicz/AP Photo)

Eighty one-year-old Sakon Haba (L) wearing loin cloth walks past a police station after he bathed in ice-cold water at the Teppozu Inari shrine in Tokyo January 11, 2015. According to organizers, about 100 participants took part in the Shinto ceremony to purify their souls and wish for good health in the new year. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)