Which region will suffer most from Winter?

[Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn]

Which region will suffer most from Winter in The Winds of Winter? North or Riverlands?

[The Bard of Banefort]

All but certainly the North. The Other's invasion will probably reach the Riverlands, but they'll have to trample the North before they can get that far. The climate is also most severe in the North, so even without an army of the dead on the horizon, northerners would still struggle the most with food and resources. 

[Alexis-something-Rose]

The north. At least the riverlands are "back" in the king's peace, so I imagine they will be supplied with food. 

The north is on its own. Winterfell is broken, the glass gardens have been smashed, the wintertown has been burned, so the climate refugees have no where to turn. Food is already a major problem, though I'm assuming White Harbor will be ready to supply. Which come to think of it, did Jon even think of reaching out to White Harbor for food assistance? I know he thought of the Vale and the Reach IIRC, but not White Harbor.

The north is still warring while that's pretty much done in the riverlands as of right now.

And if the Wall falls, they're the ones who get effed first.

[Ghost+Nymeria4Eva]

The North will suffer the most in terms of climate. I mean, everything would be seriously frozen. 

But the coming winter would affect all of Westeros in serious ways. See what happens to the fertile lands because of the War of the 5 Kings. In Clash, we see the Riverlands being devastated and farms being burned. This would cause serious famine in the coming months. Aren't the most food in Westeros grown in the Riverlands region? Highgarden grows flowers mainly. When the winter comes, most people in and around KL would starve. 

[Adam Yozza]

The North. They're in desperate straits for food; probably only marginally better off than the Riverlands but; at the moment; no way to help. Plus they're still at war at the moment and that's where the Others are gonna hit first. They also get the worst of the weather.

4 minutes ago, Ghost+Nymeria4Eva said:

The North will suffer the most in terms of climate. I mean, everything would be seriously frozen. 

But the coming winter would affect all of Westeros in serious ways. See what happens to the fertile lands because of the War of the 5 Kings. In Clash, we see the Riverlands being devastated and farms being burned. This would cause serious famine in the coming months. Aren't the most food in Westeros grown in the Riverlands region? Highgarden grows flowers mainly. When the winter comes, most people in and around KL would starve. 

The Reach is the most fertile region in Westeros.

[Kandrax]

North.

[Dorian Martell's son]

4 hours ago, Dead headofMaelysKinslayer said:

Which region will suffer most from Winter in The Winds of Winter? North or Riverlands?

Everyone who says the north is wrong. The north has not been ravaged by fighting. The north had harvests and food stores. There will be a lack of men, but that will only let food stores last longer than they would have. 
The Riverlands however are ravaged. Many men of fighting age are dead, crops and fields are burned and there was not enough time to plant again for a fall harvest. 

[kissdbyfire]

31 minutes ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

Everyone who says the north is wrong. The north has not been ravaged by fighting. The north had harvests and food stores. There will be a lack of men, but that will only let food stores last longer than they would have. 
The Riverlands however are ravaged. Many men of fighting age are dead, crops and fields are burned and there was not enough time to plant again for a fall harvest. 

I agree. Also, w/ the north having less fewer men, there will be less fewer new wights. 

[300 H&H Magnum]

6 hours ago, Dead headofMaelysKinslayer said:

Which region will suffer most from Winter in The Winds of Winter? North or Riverlands?

The north, obviously.  They are on the direct path of the bad weather.  They will be hit with the worst of the winter.  Any kind of agriculture will cease when the temperature plummets and the skies darken.  

[BRANDON GREYSTARK]

REGIONS from worst to least affected

The Iron Isles; no major sources of food or fuel for fire

The Stormlands ; No farms.

Crownlands ; population

Westerlands ; No farms

Dorne ;If the winter is severe enough

Reach ; If the winter is severe enough

Riverlands

The Vale

The North  ; Use to harsh winters .

[Walda]

Riverlands.

The North is going to have harsher weather, but the people and the animals and the plants are better prepared for harsh weather. 

The South is going to be dealing with weather it has never had to deal with, and that is going to be disruptive.

I'm remembering when the town I lived in, in Australia, was snowed in for two days. If it had been in Canada, (or even Florida) there would have been snow ploughs to clear the roads and railways and airports. The place would have been inaccessible for a few hours at most. As it was, not only was the town cut off from everywhere outside, one half of the town was inaccessible from the other because deep drifts and ice blocked all crossings of the creek. Also, the colleges were cut off from the university (and even more remarkably, on the first day of exams.)

This massively disruptive snow storm was never more than a few inches deep. The weather during most of these two days was clear and sunny. It was just that we had no snow smarts and no equipment to deal with settled snow that didn't just melt away of its own accord. Also, not big on furnaces, central heating, double glazing. No snow shoes or skis (although, plenty of improvised sleds).

So yes, the North is going to be snowed in, and the wights are likely to attack there first, but the South has no proper shelter for their animals (and no notion of slaughtering and hanging them before the freeze), they have no proper facilities for storing their grain and roots below the frost, their roofs are not reinforced to deal with the snow, their plants and trees have no natural defences. Their clothes are inadequate, they have no snow shoes, no sleighs. They have made no massive stores of firewood, and outside of Harrenhal they have no massive hearths of massive stone. And even Harrenhal's hearths are not designed to keep the heat in the hall, let alone burn a body that froze in the night.

The population of the Riverlands is much denser, and while they believe in skin changers, they don't believe in Others any more than in Old Gods. It is not going to go well for the Riverlands, and worse for Oldtown, where they can't imagine the Mander freezing over, and the maesters and septons both are set up especially not to deal with risen dead.

[Prince Yourwetdream Aeryn]

4 hours ago, BRANDON GREYSTARK said:

The Iron Isles; no major sources of food or fuel for fire

 

Euron invaded some parts of Arbor.

[Shouldve Taken The Black]

The chapters set in the North in ADOD may well be a hint as to how the different people of Westros are equipped to deal with winter. The southron members of Stannis’s army faired much worse than the northerners, and the Freys in Winterfell were clearly appalled by the extreme weather. If that kind of weather extends south, which is very likely, then the southerners are likely to be in trouble, particularly in places like the Riverlands where the war has left them broken.

As to what happens when the Others attack, that all depends on how far they get, as we don’t really know, but we have to assume that the North will be attacked by them, whatever else happens.  

[Shouldve Taken The Black]

6 hours ago, BRANDON GREYSTARK said:

The Iron Isles; no major sources of food or fuel for fire

They don't sow. They raid others and take their food. 

[HexMachina]

10 hours ago, Dorian Martell's son said:

Everyone who says the north is wrong. The north has not been ravaged by fighting. The north had harvests and food stores. There will be a lack of men, but that will only let food stores last longer than they would have. 
The Riverlands however are ravaged. Many men of fighting age are dead, crops and fields are burned and there was not enough time to plant again for a fall harvest. 

Harvests that are dying/dead in the fields from lack of men to harvest them (per Alys Karstark).

And the North has been and continues to be racaged by War. The battle for Winterfell (upcoming), the Ironborn invasion, Ramsay and the Hornwood skirmishes...it certainly didn’t escape unscathed. 

Riverlands isn’t exactly in great shape either though, but may be marginally better off if the climate is more temperate

[Lord Varys]

The North.

Winter as such should be milder in the Riverlands, since those are farther down south. It might be that the Riverlands will have more problems with starvation, but those would be secondary consequences of winter as such.

Not to mention that the Riverlands are close to the Reach and the West, which should allow them to acquire food there. 

Those Northmen who lost their harvest in autumn - or whose provisions were stolen or destroyed by the Ironborn - won't get new food easily. Torrhen's Square and Deepwood Motte are not exactly in close to White Harbor.

And the battles at Winterfell will be a huge waste of food, too. Both Roose's and Stannis' men wasted precious food on marching men and animals through the North, and they may destroy/lose even more food during the coming battles.

57 minutes ago, Shouldve Taken The Black said:

The chapters set in the North in ADOD may well be a hint as to how the different people of Westros are equipped to deal with winter. The southron members of Stannis’s army faired much worse than the northerners, and the Freys in Winterfell were clearly appalled by the extreme weather. If that kind of weather extends south, which is very likely, then the southerners are likely to be in trouble, particularly in places like the Riverlands where the war has left them broken.

There is certainly truth to that, but objectively winter should still be worst in the North.

Usually autumn storms in the North are apparently not as bad as winter in the Stormlands - if that changes this winter it is most likely due to the influence/actions of the Others. But then it is also very likely that the North is going to face the worst winter ever, too. A winter the Northmen are not prepared for, either, just as the Stormlanders and Reach men are not prepared to face a proper northern winter down in their lands.

It is very unlikely that the weather, on average, is going to be worse in, say, Highgarden than it is at Winterfell.

[Rufus Snow]

The north will suffer most; the south will whinge the most....

[kissdbyfire]

12 minutes ago, Rufus Snow said:

The north will suffer most; the south will whinge the most....

 

[Shouldve Taken The Black]

2 hours ago, Lord Varys said:

There is certainly truth to that, but objectively winter should still be worst in the North.

Usually autumn storms in the North are apparently not as bad as winter in the Stormlands - if that changes this winter it is most likely due to the influence/actions of the Others. But then it is also very likely that the North is going to face the worst winter ever, too. A winter the Northmen are not prepared for, either, just as the Stormlanders and Reach men are not prepared to face a proper northern winter down in their lands.

It is very unlikely that the weather, on average, is going to be worse in, say, Highgarden than it is at Winterfell.

I'd agree with all of that. 

The winter will of course be worse in the North, but we may see that certain values and abilities we see in the Northern culture shine through during the winter. They may be the only ones in any way prepared for it. 

 

[Lord Varys]

5 minutes ago, Shouldve Taken The Black said:

The winter will of course be worse in the North, but we may see that certain values and abilities we see in the Northern culture shine through during the winter. They may be the only ones in any way prepared for it.

They will all rediscover the values of blood sacrifices quickly enough if that's what you mean.

There will be no preparing for the cold that's going to come. If this could be dealt with in a regular manner we wouldn't read a fantasy series. Nothing indicates the Northmen have the magics/means to deal with either the Others or the cold they bring.

We might get to the point where people will freeze to death while going outside for a few minutes.

The real model is likely going to be an antarctic winter, including the absence of the sun during the new Long Night.