Winter is coming and some of us are better prepared than others. Some nations not only survive it but enjoy it too, while others brace themselves for snow-induced chaos. We take a look at how different countries cope with long, dark and cold winters and those that don’t so much…

Winters in Norway are long and cold – stretching from October until April – and often gloomy. For places above the Arctic Circle, the sun hardly rises above the horizon and temperatures can plumment as low as -40°C. However, the Norwegians have the whole winter thing nailed. From wearing the right gear (long johns are de rigeur) and kitting out their cars in winter tyres to clever innovations such as heated pavements, they don’t let snow hamper their fun.

When they’re not out cross-country skiing (this is the country that invented skiing, after all), ski jumping or playing ice hockey, they’re embracing koselig. This concept embraces a sense of cosiness and community. People light candles and fires, guzzle warm drinks, eat cake and meet in bars for drinks with friends, snuggling under warm blankets handed out to customers.

Some fantastic festivals take place in winter too. Temperatures in the far north community of Longyearbyen might plummet to -30˚C but the Polar Jazz festival in February hots things up. Plus, there are some fantastic outdoors sports events such as the FIS World Cup Nordic in Oslo, an annual skiing extravaganza that includes an extreme ski jumping tournament. 

It might be dark most of the winter − the shortest day sees just four hours of sunlight and lows of -30°C − but Iceland is mesmerisingly beautiful at this time of year. Plus, this is when the northern lights dance across the skies and the country’s winter sports come into their own. The locals cope with the weather admirably: roads are kept clear of snow and ice by snow ploughs from early in the morning while heated pavements and streets have helped Reykjavík lower its snow removal costs and lessen snow-related accidents and injuries.

Where better to wash away any winter blues than in a hot spring? Iceland is strewn with steaming pools and you’ll find people enjoying them all year round – but they come into their own in winter to soak cold and tired limbs after all those snow sports. Some light relief in the dark days of January comes with the Feast of Þorri. The mid-winter celebration stems back to pre-Christian times when Icelanders would feast in honour of the Nordic god of thunder, Þór. It was revived in the 19th century. Check out our guide to Iceland beyond the tourist trail.

Ask anyone from a Nordic nation and they’ll tell you there's no such thing as bad weather just bad clothing. Stylish Sweden, which sees -30°C winters, is no exception – the locals know the secret to winter wear is in the layering. First up, wearing a suitable base layer is key – go for a long-sleeved top (fine wool ideally) and pull on those long johns. Finish with a water-proof or wind-proof top layer. And don’t forget the extremities – hats, scarves and gloves are also essential.

Beating the winter blues can be difficult in Sweden, as with much of Scandinavia, but the Swedes have their ways to avoid seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Many buy special sun lamps and wake-up lights to tackle the darkness, while Stockholm has light therapy cafés. Lighting candles is very much part of winter and the power of light is celebrated on St Lucia Day – one of the country’s biggest festivals celebrated on the darkest day of the year.

Other ways the Swedes cope with winter lethargy are through coffee – they are one of the biggest coffee consumers on the planet and when winter arrives their coffee consumption goes up. Then of course, there’s the tradition of jumping into an icy water hole. Swiftly followed by a retreat to the sauna. If that doesn’t get you revved up then nothing will.

Another coffee-loving Scandi nation, Finland is the world’s biggest consumer of the hot beverage with 26 pounds consumed per capita per year. Maybe that explains why they’re so alert and prepared for winter, which sees temperatures as low as -30˚C, and in some places -50˚C. In northern Finland the snow begins tumbling in November and can last until May or longer. Thankfully, the Finns are extremely skillful drivers in wintry conditions: winter tyres go on and cold weather driving skills are taught to learners.

Road maintenance is regulated by law in Finland with landowners and local authorities tasked with shared responsibility for the upkeep. As soon as the temperature dips, snow ploughs are at the ready and the salt and grit spreaders are on call to tackle slippery roads.

The Finns are big believers in the benefits of plunging into icy water too. Taking an energising dip in an icy lake is how many people in Finnish Lapland start their day. It sure beats a tepid shower to get your blood pumping and ready for a day's work.

Some Scandi nations might be disparaging of Denmark’s relatively mild winters (temperatures hover around 0˚C during the coldest month of February) but this nation does winter with aplomb. After all, it’s the country that introduced the concept of hygge to those of us outside of Scandinavia. While there are lots of strands to this feeling of warmth and cosiness, in brief it’s all about lighting fires and candles, getting out the gløgg (mulled wine), and chowing down the cardamom buns. Bliss.

Areas of Greenland can get as cold as -69°C, enough to make even the hardiest winter-lover's shiver. Spending time with family and friends is something Greenlanders do more of during the near perpetual darkness of winter. And what better way to while away the black nights than by telling spooky stories? Gathering for a meal and storytelling is one way the Nordic nation makes it through the long winter. The country’s traditional hunters embrace the wintry landscape as new “roads” open up and allow them to dog sled to remote parts of the country to hunt. Every snow cloud...

Winters perhaps don't get more extreme than in Russia, where the remote village of Oymyakon the coldest inhabited place on Earth. In 1933, temperatures plunged to -90°C – the coldest recorded temperature in a permanently-inhabited place. In some places, though, winter is a more magical season, with landscapes and cities looking at their most beautiful when the snow starts to fall. St Petersburg positively sparkles – it’s like stepping into a snow globe – with ice-skating in the city parks and sledding around the embankments of the frozen Neva River. 

Much of Russia experiences a “proper” winter – frozen lakes, landscapes blanketed in snow, and icicles hanging from frosted windows. Banya, Russian bathhouses and saunas, become even more popular in the depths of winter. Very much a social activity, the invigorating ritual includes being swatted and massaged with bundles of leafy oak or birch in a sauna followed by a dousing with ice-cold water. 

Winters here are brutal (the average temperature in January is around -35˚C) but the Mongolians tough out the long harsh months by bundling themselves in lots of layers and often wearing traditional fur-lined outerwear. Calorie consumption goes up too: Mongolian herders put butter in their tea for extra calories to help them stay warm.

Appropriate attire is something the Canadians are well versed in. As the home of luxury outerwear Canada Goose (whose products were designed to stand the demands of the Canadian Arctic), this is a country that well and truly rocks winter wear. And they need it: in some areas Canada can see up to 60 inches of snowfall in just 24 hours. Wearing the right footwear – waterproof shoes or boots with solid, thick rubber soles – is essential for winters in the country’s chilliest cities. Yellowknife and Winnipeg top the cold charts with record lows of -45˚C.

And Canadians come out to celebrate the things they can only do in winter: this active nation doesn’t hunker down but gets outside to toboggan, ski, snowmobile, ice-climb, ice-skate and play ice hockey. You name a winter sport and the Canadians excel at it. Ottawa becomes extra fun in winter as the Rideau Canal turns into a huge, file-mile-long ice skating rink.

There's a host of festivals in the depths of the season too. Residents build elaborate ice structures among other activities during the wonderful Winter Carnivale in Québec City, the darkness is lifted at the Montréal en Lumière with music, shows and art shows, and Toronto tucks in during its annual restaurant festival Winterlicous in January.

Blizzards, snow drifts, and frozen ground, North Dakota is one of the snowiest and chilliest states in the US. Famed for its snow-bound turn in the film Fargo, named after the North Dakotan town which gets an average snowfall of 42.4 inches. But it’s not all the drear and murderous intentions the film would have you believe. Ice-fishing is a popular sport and a network of snowmobile trails open up some stunning parts of the snowy state.

Winter-ready cities such as Boston and Chicago are on high-alert for snow storms with snow ploughs at the ready to clear roads (the former has 500 of the vehicles) and websites dedicated to storm updates. Chicago goes a step further with real-time tracking of its snow ploughs, which have with GPS devices. But even states like New York, with its famously frigid temperatures, can suffer: in January 2015 subways and buses were shut down, planes grounded and motorists stranded in the snow as a blizzard hit.

Some parts of the states are not so well-prepared, however, particularly in the south where heavy snow is often unexpected. In January 2014, utter havoc descended on Atlanta when it was hit by two inches of snow. A mass exodus on the roads saw thousands of motorists were stranded on highways, hundreds of children were trapped in classrooms or on school buses, and businesses were shut across the region.

The country most lambasted for its annual winter meltdowns has to be Britain. We get overexcited by the lightest of sprinkles, shops sell out of snow boots and the likelihood of finding a sledge is as rare as a white Christmas. But the inevitable snow-induced chaos soon sees the excitement wane…

Not being well-versed in snow, our winter driving skills leave a lot to be desired even with just an inch or so – causing traffic jams and accidents. The “wrong kind of snow” causes train cancellations and our airports can often shut down completely. Unlike parts of northern Europe and Canada, British airports aren’t equipped with lots of snow ploughs nor under-runway heating mechanisms.

The winter of 2009 unleashed the heaviest snowfall for 18 years across the country, crippling transport systems (the London buses didn’t run for the first time since the Blitz), closing thousands of schools and businesses, and costing the economy around £1.2 billion in lost working hours. But on the plus side, some people got to enjoy a potentially once-in-a-lifetime snow day. However, when the snow turns to the inevitable grey slush, the Brits have had enough of winter for one year.

Cold snaps can wreak travel havoc in Ireland too with fallen trees and icy roads causing accidents and commuters sometimes left freezing at bus stops and train stations. Though there are plenty of fire-lit cosy pubs to retreat into – the perfect place for hunkering down with a stout until the slush has melted.

This compact country also suffers from the unpredictability of its winters, with unanticipated cold snaps causing some serious issues on its roads in recent years. And train travel to and from Brussels was suspended in March 2013 due to a late and heavy snow fall.

That same snow storm blanketed much of Europe, including France which also suffered from snow-induced traffic tail backs, which paralysed roads around Paris and caused lengthy delays to Eurostar services as northern sections of the high-speed rail route were closed.

Winter has already unleashed some turmoil in Germany this year with heavy snow disrupting airports in Frankfurt where more than 80 flights were cancelled. But there’s plenty of good cheer to found in Germany during the winter, particularly at its fabulously festive Christmas markets (all gingerbread, glühwein and cute souvenirs galore). The German’s love for winter is known as gemütlichkeit, a similar concept to hygge.

Usually balmy parts of Greece were blanketed in snow as icy temperatures gripped much of Europe earlier in 2017. Rare snowfall covered beaches in seaside resorts on the isle of Lesbos and stunned locals. Rare snowstorms have been known to cause transport chaos around capital Athens too, with one overnight traffic jam stretching for up to nine miles in 2012 and ferries disrupted.

But if we think Britain’s bad, in Australia – anything under 15˚C is considered perishing in some parts of the sun-blessed country. Much like the UK in a heatwave, when electric fans go like hotcakes, heaters sell out instantly. The Ugg boots and winter layers go on, but by lunchtime people are stripping off in the midday sun.