Five Fun Facts About Winter

The holiday season is upon us! Can you believe it's already almost 2023? To celebrate, here are five fun winter facts:

• In December 2021, the United States Postal Service delivered 53 million packages to households across the country. This year, they expect to deliver even more!
• Snow can be all kinds of colors! Sometimes, snow contains certain algae that reflect light differently than regular flakes. This can make the snow appear red, green, orange, or even yellow… yikes! 
• PwC.com reported that 57% of consumers planned on shopping solely online for holiday gifts this season, while 43% said they were going to shop in stores. 
• The Earth is closest to the sun in the winter by about three million miles! During winter months, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, giving it less light and less warmth. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere for this part of the year, your half of the planet is tilted towards the sun! 
• Every February, a resort at the Takhini Hot Springs in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, holds a hair-freezing contest. Participants wet their heads in the hot springs and wait for the cold temperatures to make their hair stiffen. The one with the wackiest design wins a grand prize of $2,000! Check out this photo gallery from The Weather Channel.

Whether you're shopping for gifts, avoiding yellow snow, freezing your hair in Canada, or just focused on staying cozy, we at HubPages wish you a happy holiday season!

Fact-Checking and Credible Sources

If you feel inspired by the fun fact list above, or if you want to write a different article regarding history, science, academia, or another professional field, it is important that the information you share is credible. Fact-checking your content and linking to high-ranking sources helps boost your authority as an online writer. Here are some tips for fact-checking and source-linking!

• Wikipedia is a wealth of information, but it isn't always the best. Because anyone can add text to Wikipedia pages, it can be difficult to know how reliable their information is. Luckily, most Wikipedia pages have a source list at the bottom, so you can narrow down your search by finding the specific origin of your content. (For example, if you are writing about Jewish holiday practices, this Wikipedia article on Hannukah links to a piece on chabad.org titled " How to Light the Menora." The second source is more specific and is a high-quality, trusted site, so it'd be better to include it instead!)
• Look for .edu and .org. Most of the time, sites ending in .edu are credible educational resources. Institutions must apply for a .edu domain, so they tend to be trustworthy. Domains ending in .org are primarily used by non-profit organizations, which means they aren't trying to make money off of the traffic you're giving them. This makes it less likely that they'll provide you with false, eye-catching information. Some examples are harvard.edu and pbs.org. 
• Try Google Scholar.  Google Scholar is a database full of scholarly literature. Just type your topic into the special Google Scholar search bar, and the results will be books, PDFs, and articles that pertain to your subject. You can also see how many times these sources have been cited by others, which is usually a great indicator of authority!

If you're looking for a trustworthy reference or you're double-checking that the fact you just provided is truthful, these tips can be super helpful for your readers and editors alike!

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Namrata Manna, From Kolkata, 0 Fans, 3 Hubs, Joined 5 weeks ago

Namrata Manna

This week's Fresh Face of HubPages is Namrata Manna! Namrata's niche is travel writing, but they also write about mental health and other subjects that pique their curiosity. Check out their articles on Places to Experience Monsoon Season in India and Ways to Combat Seasonal Affective Disorder. 

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