The life of a snowflake begins with water vapour in the air.  In the winter, snow-forming clouds are still mostly made of water droplets, even when the temperature is below freezing.  If a particular droplet freezes, it becomes a small particle of ice surrounded by the remaining liquid water droplets in the cloud.  The ice grows as water vapour condenses onto its surface, forming a snowflake in the process.

I think snowflakes are fascinating. With so many different types, shapes and sizes, they never fail to amuse.

Let’s start with the most basic type, simple prism.

A  prism is the most basic snow crystal.  Depending on how fast the different sides grow, prisms can appear as different shapes.  Simple prisms are usually so small, they can barely be seen with the naked eye.

Stellar plates are a common type of snowflakes (and are very pretty indeed!). These snowflakes form when the temperature is near -2 C (28 F) or near -15 C (5 F).

Dendritic means “tree-like”, so stellar dendrites are snowflakes that have branches and side branches.  These are fairly large crystals, typically 2-4 mm in diameter, that are easily seen with the naked eye. These snowflakes are the most popular snow crystal type, seen in holiday decorations everywhere.

If the branches of stellar crystals have so many side branches and look a bit like ferns, they are called fernlike stellar dendrites.  These are the largest snow crystals, often with diameters of 5 mm or more.

Needles are slim, columnar ice crystals that grow when the temperature is around -5.  These snowflakes look like small bits of white hair (eww) .

And the prettiest of all is a 12-sided snowflake. These crystals are quite rare, but sometimes a snowfall will bring quite a few.

Last, but not least, is artificial snow, found at the ski fields.  This type of snow is made of frozen water droplets, with none of the elaborate structure found in real snow crystals.

If you would like to learn more, here is the link to K. Libbrecht’s  book, available on Amazon.