5 live cams that offer winter vibes from the safety of your home

As snowstorms blanket the northern hemisphere and COVID-19 continues to keep many inside, live cams are here to bring some more adventurous, wonderful, and adorable winter vibes through your screens.

With the return of explore.org's live Northern Lights cam, we dove into the internet to find more live cams featuring snowy environments, animals, and some human activity to ignite a smoldering, wintry fire inside your soul. Whether you're quarantining for yourself or others, stuck inside amid the heavy snowfall, or live in a place where the snow just doesn't pile up, these cams might help lift your spirits.

Skiing and snowboarding fun

Is there anything better in the winter than navigating down a big, snowy mountain or hill on skis, a snowboard, or even a sled? The above live cam is situated at the summit of Mont-Tremblant, northwest of Montréal, Canada, where winter sports are in full swing.

There are skiing and snowboarding cams all over the place, including Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid, New York and Winter Park in Colorado, where you can take in some snowy mountain views and watch people carve powder.

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Little flyers feeding

As a part of Cornell University's bird lab, this live feed of a bird feeding structure in Ithaca, New York gets tons of gorgeous visitors with surprising frequency. Amid the winter landscape of Central New York, this feeder attracts impressive blue jays, bright red cardinals, chickadees, woodpeckers, and more as they land for a little snack. Another cam in Ontario offers similar views and guests.

Oceanfront snow

When you think of the Jersey Shore, you probably don't think of it in the winter. But with snow piling up across the northeast U.S., live cams from the New Jersey coast offer quite a view. The above feed and this live cam from Wildwood Crest really make the reality of winter hit hard.

Wolves in the woods

A wolf rests at the Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York. Credit: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

The Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem, New York has a whole bunch of live feeds of their resident wolves. There are cams that watch the outdoor environments and cams that keep an eye on their dens, where you can catch wolves curled up and resting. Even if they aren't active, these animals make for great, soothing views, and you can click around to see what different wolves are up to.

Penguin joy

Penguins are one the ultimate wintery animals, the vast majority of them coming from icy Antarctica. They're also one of the cutest animals on Earth. The above live cam from explore.org is fixed on what's known as Penguin Beach in Long Beach, California. Sure, there isn't usually snow there, but penguins bring enough of that kind of energy on their own. Alternatively, you can check out the penguins at the San Diego Zoo.

Bonus: Scenic northern train rides

This one is a little bit of a cheat because these streams aren't trulylive, but they're operated as ongoing streams of train rides through some really beautiful, snowy, winter landscapes in Norway. Since they're on the move, it can be a bit more engaging than some of the stationary cams (as long as you don't catch them chugging along through some shockingly long tunnels, but they don't last forever). If the one above isn't grabbing you, there are alternatives that also run all the time.