Windswept Hills

Windswept Hills (Extreme Hills) is a cold, mountainous biome featuring jagged, elevated terrain blanketed in grass blocks and expansive stretches of exposed stone. The landscape reaches peaks around Y-level 140, though high erosion values keep the overall terrain somewhat flatter compared to other mountain biomes. Above approximately Y=120, precipitation shifts from rain to snow, capping the higher elevations in a layer of white, while standing water freezes into solid ice. The grass and foliage throughout Windswept Hills carry a distinctive aqua-green tint that sets it apart visually.

One of the most notable features of Windswept Hills is the exclusive generation of emerald ore, which spawns here and in other mountain biome variants. This makes the biome a valuable destination for players who need that particular resource. Below sea level, infested stone blocks containing silverfish can occasionally appear, adding a degree of underground hazard to exploration.

In Java Edition, scattered oak and spruce trees grow across the hillsides of Windswept Hills, while Bedrock Edition limits tree growth to the Windswept Forest variant. Bushes dot the sparse grassland, and llamas spawn naturally here alongside cold animal variants including Cold Chicken, Cold Pig, and Cold Cow. The biome generates in medium-to-low temperature zones with medium humidity, characterized by high erosion and high continentalness values.

Windswept Hills commonly borders the Windswept Forest and Windswept Gravelly Hills variants, as well as Windswept Savanna in warmer transitional zones. Large regions of this biome often encircle swamp areas, with flatland biomes such as plains, forests, and taigas occupying the outer edges of the surrounding landscape.