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Nature's Corner Christine Lange Now that winter has arrived and snow has started to fall, I'd like to take a look at how snowflakes are formed. Snow is a form of precipitation that consists of masses of tiny ice crystals. These crystals grow from water vapor in cold clouds. They combine to produce snowflakes as they collide and stick together. Snowflakes vary widely in size. In some cases, as many as 100 ice crystals may cling together to form a snowflake larger than 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Snowflakes also differ in shape, but they all have six sides. Snow contains much less water than rain. About 15 centimeters (six inches) of moist snow or 76 centimeters (30 inches) of dry, fluffy snow can equal the water in one inch of rain. In most cases, snow crystals form on microscopic particles called ice nuclei, which are present in clouds with below freezing temperatures. Snow crystals may develop when water vapor is deposited directly on ice nuclei. They may also form when the ice nuclei cause tiny drops of supercooled water to freeze. Supercooled water is water that has remained unfrozen at below freezing temperatures. However, at temperatures below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit, supercooled water freezes without the presence of ice nuclei. Snow crystals grow in platelike and columnular patterns, depending on air temperature and humidity levels. Platelike crystals appear as flat, six-sided plates. But they also grow in the shape of six-pointed stars with a fern-like structure in humid air. Platelike crystals form when the temperature is about 5 degrees Farhenheit. Columnular snow crystals resemble long needles of ice, but high humidity may cause them to become hollow columns. They form when the temperature is about 23 degrees Farhenheit or when it drops below minus four degrees celcius. A snow crystal's shape may change from one type to another as the crystal passes through layers of air with different temperatures. When melted snow crystals or raindrops fall through a layer of cold air, they freeze to form small particles of clear ice called sleet. Falling ice crystals that collide with supercooled water droplets become white pellets called snow pellets. When such collisions occur repeatedly, the pellets may grow larger and form hail. |
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