Hey, my first post!
I had a major facepalm moment very recently. Previously I have managed to never embark in a cold region, which was never by design. It just happened that the forts I made managed to never experience the grips of winter, usually due to having the perfect balance of resources. Anyway I was so busy smoothing and engraving walls after no less than three dwarves had claimed themselves as barons and another king in the past two seasons, I forgot to keep our drink stock up. You probably know what happened... this took place in mid-autumn and it was so bad by late autumn - when all the water outdoors was frozen over - that most of my dwarves were dehydrated. My eyes glossed over their dehydration for too long, I was focusing on the fort design you know, and about 20 out of 60 died. I set to brewing quickly, but brewers kept stopping due to grief. When the ice receded... you can be sure that everything halted to get drinks from the water. They drank so much that one spot, a small pond, couldn't provide any more water. They then rushed to the edge of the other water sources. I imagined it was beautiful in their eyes nonetheless. The Winter of Death is over, and the springs have returned.
It was heartbreaking to lose some of my favorites in the military and upper management. At least two of the barons died, but the pesky king survived. It was completely my fault, and now I'm much more proactive to keep our stores high. I also have got to make sure I have a contingency plan.
A side-note about the king: when all these barons and baronesses were springing up, he only proclaimed himself king after a friendly discussion with a rival. I wonder if being noble was simply fashionable.