Who is Impact Winter?

Impact Winter is like when a big snowstorm happens, but it lasts forever and covers everything, even the sun!

Imagine you're playing outside with your friends, and suddenly, a giant snowball rolls in and knocks everything over. That’s what happened to Earth long ago, except instead of a snowball, it was a big space rock called an asteroid that hit Earth really hard.

After the hit, lots of dust and smoke went up into the sky. It was like when you shake a bag of chips, bits fly everywhere! This dust blocked the sunlight from reaching Earth.

Without enough sunlight, plants couldn’t grow as well, and animals started to feel cold and hungry, just like how you might feel if you stayed in bed all day instead of playing outside.

Even though it wasn't actually winter, the dust and smoke made everything feel cold and dark, kind of like a long, never-ending winter, so we call it Impact Winter!