Keeping things on track, remember we don't have the resources to go and seriously revamp seasons. Things like rivers freezing just aren't going to happen. It requires new code, and then you have to start considering, which rivers etc though I suppose that since travel times all increase we generally assume that all continents are located such that they have European style winters.
Perhaps seasons could remain as a time feature only, as Chénier points out they have long been used on Dwilight. It would also be feasible to tweak the existing penalties. My main though about seasons is that they make part of the game which is already not really enjoyed by many player, that is the food aspect, that much more troublesome. Personally I would prefer to see realms concentrate on power struggles and wars rather then sit idle because they know they will have troubles over winter and spend much of the rest of the year trying to repair regions.
