I did my IR in Jan Feb.
It actually worked out quite well. The wx was not CPL material.
As for freezing levels yes occasionally we did pick up a bit of ice.
Made it more real actually having to tell ATC you need to decend now due icing.
The CAAFU didn't seem to bother though when 5 knts dropped off my airspeed in the enroute section. A sneaky peek confirmed we had white nipples on the props but he kept on saying "no ice". What a clatter when it dropped off on the NDB approach.
BTW its bloody scary when you don't have screens up flying IFR. Very easy to start playing a computer game with the screens up.
MJ