Ice-snow damage is a common natural disaster, and it often caused huge damage to forests. The frequency of ice storms may increase in response to climate change. Typically, warm, moist air overruns a shallow body of cold air, rain from warm air may become supercooled when it falls from the warmer clouds, causing it to freeze immediately upon contact. Ice-snow damage occurs when the ice loaded on crown exceeds the maximum bending moment for a tree of given size and species. Ice-snow damage of forests dependents on ice accumulation. Accumulation ice can cause tree damage ranged from the loss of tissues to structural failure. Ice-snow damage to trees can range from mere breakage of a few twigs, to bending stems to the ground, to moderate crown loss, to outright breakage of the trunk. There is a close relationship between ice-snow damage and forest characteristics, such as stand density and species composition as well as tree characteristics, such as diameter at breast height, tree height, stem taper, leaf area, crowns symmetry, root system and stand age, etc. The stands with the highest density are the most vulnerable to ice-snow damage, especially for a few years after thinning. Softwoods suffer less damage from the same degree of ice loading than do hardwoods. Trees with branches that droop or have pliable stems and limbs are better withstand ice-snow damage. Dominant canopy trees incur more ice-snow damage than sub-canopy trees. Moreover, ice-snow damage is affected by some external factors, such as topography and soil conditions, including elevation, slope grade, slope aspect, slope position, soil type, soil thickness and soil water content. Higher elevations are more prone to freezing rain. Elevation and aspects increasing exposure to stronger winds result in higher damage. Ice-snow damage also exerts an impact on forest understory light, soil, litter, disease fungi and wildlife. The understory light condition that followed ice-snow damages has great significance to species regeneration, forest dynamic and recovery. A transient increase in understory light following an ice-snow damage may accelerate the conversion of early successional stands to more shade-tolerant species. The rapid decrease in understory light following an ice-snow damage is likely a result of the recovery of both the overstory and understory vegetation. An ice-snow damage indirectly impacts natural plant regeneration by its impact on fruit and seed production. Wildlife first must endure the perils of the ice-snow storm-low temperatures, ice buildup, falling debris, and reduced mobility. Birds are especially vulnerable. Wounds caused by ice-snow damages permit infection by a wide array of disease fungi and become breeding grounds for bark beetles or other pests, especially when the injuries are large and do not heal rapidly. Ice damages also increase potential fire risk by elevating fuel loads. Future research in the field of ice-snow damage to forests should focus on effects of ice-snow damage on natural forests and the long-term research of nutrient cycling and soil, especially microorganism, wildlife, forest dynamics and forest understory light, and reducing the risk of ice-snow damage through forest management.