Field record · ice
Snow crystal
At close range, crystals can show plates, columns, needles or branching forms. Individual shapes record a complex growth path through the cloud.
factscale · microstructure · hexagonal
How it forms
Water vapor deposits onto an ice nucleus and the crystal grows; temperature and moisture history influence shape while ice’s crystal structure produces six-fold symmetry.
What separates it from a neighbor
A snow crystal grows by vapor deposition in cloud; frozen raindrops or ice pellets form through different pathways.
Representation boundary
Use six-fold structure honestly; a stylized snowflake is an icon, not a documentary record of a specific crystal.
Evidence boundary. This page separates a sourced formation explanation from the editorial “visual character” phrase above. A single image or casual observation may not contain enough context to classify a real phenomenon confidently.
Sources used for this record
NOAA NESDIS — How Do Snowflakes Form?government education
Ice-crystal growth, six-fold symmetry and environmental variation.
Open source ↗