Lightfoot recorded another version of the song for Gord's Gold (1975), a greatest hits compilation on which other re-recordings also appeared.
The song was written on a hot summer night in Cleveland while Lightfoot was performing there.
He was missing his wife of the time, Brita Ingegerd Olaisson, and his thoughts turned to winter.
[1] Sarah McLachlan covered the song for the soundtrack to the 1994 film Miracle on 34th Street; her rendition also appears on her 1996 compilation album Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff, on her 2006 Christmas album Wintersong, and in the soundtrack for the TV series Due South.
In December 2023, Folk Country artist Bedford Bells released his version of the song as a single.