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[Wrex]

So, I have never embarked on a freezing biome before. Any tips to help me survive?

[Patchy]

Biggest one, is get yourself an underground water-source. Other than that freezing biomes are just like any other.

[Mr Frog]

Wood will be an issue if it's tundra or glacier. Between this and what Patchy pointed out, it'd probably be best to base your fort design around the caverns.

Machine components built on ice will not function.

If it's a tundra, you can pump water up from the caverns to make an instant-death freezing trap. Just mine the ice out afterwards.

Surface crops can't be planted IIRC.

If it's a glacier, do not pump magma onto the ice. I've tried. The result can only be described as an infinitely-growing obsidian/ice monolith. There is a giant chunk of matter attached to my pump tower that had to break conservation of mass-energy just to exist.

[Mageziya]

If you do have an aquifer on your map it will require a big pit to breach. (Simple and easy to do, but highly dangerous, in the split second before a tile of water freezes, depending on what you have designated, your miner may walk into the water since it's the shortest path, and become entombed. I recommend designating one tile at a time to avoid this, or two strategically placed tiles. You will likely have to save scum.

Breach caverns as soon as possible.

Make sure you bring at least one military dwarf.

Beware of crundles.

Make lots of refuse piles to store crundle bones.

Be prepared for non-dorf caravans, sieges, and ambushes (if at all) to be few and far in between.

Conserve as much wood as possible.

And so on.

[Wrex]

Will firing a FTW device cimpletely encase the embark in obsidian, were I to build one?

[Mr Frog]

A good place could be on a glacier next to a tundra. The (probably-aquifer'd) tundra gives easy surface access to liquid water for ice-based traps and medical care while the soilless glacier allows access to the depths.

I actually took a screenshot of what it looks like when magma is deployed on a glacier. It honestly must be seen to be believed. Messy. Very messy.

[Loud Whispers]

For goodness sakes, BUILD A ROOF. Or have your Dwarves live underground 24/7

[Wrex]

I've found a glacier, with a volcano. Tapping the tube now for the hell of it.

[doublestrafe]

If you do have an aquifer on your map it will require a big pit to breach. (Simple and easy to do, but highly dangerous, in the split second before a tile of water freezes, depending on what you have designated, your miner may walk into the water since it's the shortest path, and become entombed. I recommend designating one tile at a time to avoid this, or two strategically placed tiles. You will likely have to save scum.

Would marking the next level down as Restricted traffic fix this?

[TxJBxT]

Start digging underground to find a cave with water. And if theres no trees above ground there should be underground. Just bring some military dwarves with your embark so you can take care of any nastys. But its really easy to do.

[Supernerd]

If you want to prevent your miner from suiciding in an icy aquifer, I recommend using a burrows to prevent Urist McSenselessMiner from taking that route. Traffic zones might also work.

[AutomataKittay]

Bring in a pick, even if you're doing raw material start. Gotta dig in quick just in case it's too cold.
Bring much more plump helmets instead of booze. Booze can freeze and you can brew what you need underground.
Bring lots of wood, not much wood in icy places.
Don't bring liquids if you can help it.
Don't trench the surface if there're aquifer around, unless you REALLY have to.