The article presents the experience of studying images of cold and snow in Ugra literature in a mythopoetic aspect. The theoretical basis is the concept of the “Yugorsky text”, first introduced in 2019 by D. Larkovich, understood as an integral semiotic space, in which the basic mythologems and value oppositions of traditional culture are realized. Based on the works of Ugra authors (E. Aypin, Yu. Shestalov, Yu. Vella, M. Vagatova et al.), the study reveals the ambivalent semantics of the images of cold and snow, dating back to cosmogonic myths and undergoing a transformation in the literature of the 20th century. We show that snow, unlike cold, retains a predominantly positive connotation, acting as a marker of the sacred space of the taiga. Special attention is paid to the cold heat opposition as a metaphor for life and death. Often, the image of cold in the Yugorsky text is embodied in the images of characters, indicating spiritual emptiness and alienation. The article analyzes the novel by E. Aypin “Waiting for the First Snow” and its central paradox, which is included in the title: Why snow is looked forward to, despite the fact that it semantically contains a negative connotation of cold in traditional culture.