snowflake

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snowflake on a wool coat

Are all snowflakes actually unique?

How do snowflakes form?

How do snowflakes form?

Witness snowflake crystals created in a laboratory environment

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An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

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The Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Alice in Wonderland)

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. Engraving by Cosomo Colombini (d. 1812) after a Leonardo self portrait. Ca. 1500.

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Thanksgiving Turkey with all the sides

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A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England

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snowflake

weather

Also known as: snow crystal, snow flake

Learn about this topic in these articles:

major reference

In snow
Snowflakes are formed by crystals of ice that generally have a hexagonal pattern, often beautifully intricate. The size and shape of the crystals depend mainly on the temperature and the amount of water vapour available as they develop. At temperatures above about −40 °C (−40…
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description and formation

In climate: Mechanisms of precipitation release
…become joined to form a snowflake. In falling into the warmer regions of the cloud, this flake may melt and hit ground as a raindrop.
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In climate: Snow and sleet
Snowflakes are aggregates of ice crystals that appear in an infinite variety of shapes, mainly at temperatures near the freezing point of water.
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development from ice

In ice
…frost at ground level and snowflakes (each of which consists of a single ice crystal) in clouds. Below the same temperature, liquid water forms a solid, as, for example, river ice, sea ice, hail, and ice produced commercially or in household refrigerators.
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