Impossible to unlock cold climate related genes?

[Wander]

Hi. I'm not sure if this is a bug or if I am doing this wrong since this is my first time playing on a cold island.
The "time spent in cold climate" counter is not going up.
I wasn't sure if "time spent" referred to the nicheling turns/gemstones or just days spent.
I have already spent several days on this island. (top of screenshot, days spent on island)

But the genes in the mutation menu seem unaffected. It's still at 0/50 even though I've spent some time here.

Is this a bug or am I just doing it wrong? Do I need to go to a different island? Thanks.

[Snowy Owl]

it has to be atleast  -1 cold, before those genes start unlocking 

[Wander]

1 minute ago, Snowy Owl said:

it has to be atleast  -1 cold, before those genes start unlocking 

How can I tell how cold it is?

[Snowy Owl]

like with heat the screen changes colour, but other than than no idea, aside from the antenna.

Edit: that and the counter goes up

[Jojo]

You can also tell by how cold it is if your Nichelings with low cold resistance actually get cold, then it is usually cold enough to unlock winter genes. The hard and killer islands are best for unlocking these genes the fastest but also a lot harder.

[Wander]

Oh I see. So it's not just time spent in the cold biome, there are some days that are particularly cold.
i'm guessing these cold days are kind of like how on normal islands it rains every once and a while.

Thanks for explaining it to me.
I wish that was made more clear in the game.