Snowflake
Click on image for full size
UCAR

Snow

Snow is part of the cryosphere. It is a type of precipitation in which water falls as ice crystals, or combinations of many ice crystals, called snowflakes. Snowflakes form in clouds where the temperature is below freezing (0ºC, or 32ºF). The ice crystals form around tiny bits of dirt that have been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. As the snow crystals grow, they become heavier and fall toward Earth.

Each snowflake can be made of as many as 200 ice crystals. Many snowflakes are symmetrical hexagonal (six-sided) shapes because water molecules often organize with this type of symmetry as they freeze. If they spin like tops as they fall to the ground, they may be perfectly symmetrical. Other types of snowflakes end up lopsided. Different types of snowflakes form in different conditions. Temperature determines if the crystals become a flat plate, a long column, or a prism shape.

On average, 10 inches of snow melt down to about an inch of water; however, not all snow is the same. Some places receive very heavy snow. For instance, only five and a half inches of January snow on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, melt down to an inch of water. In contrast, over 15 inches of January snow at Crested Butte, Colorado, melt down to an inch of water.

There are areas on Earth where snow covers the land surface year-round. These areas are often known as snowfields and are found both at high latitudes, where snow is common and temperatures stay cold year-round, and on mountaintops, where the high altitude causes temperatures to be cold year-round. The extent of the snow cover can change with the seasons - more snow added during winter and some of it melted away during summer. Recently, the snow cover on some mountaintops, especially mountains at low latitudes, has been shrinking because the Earth is getting warmer.

Last modified January 29, 2007 by Lisa Gardiner.

You might also be interested in:

Cool It! Game

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

The Cryosphere

The cryosphere includes the parts of the Earth system where water is in its frozen (solid) form. This includes snow, sea ice, icebergs, ice shelves, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost soils. Approximately...more

Can Two Snowflakes Look Alike?

Even though most snowflakes have a hexagonal structure, there are many ways that water molecules can arrange themselves as the water freezes. Some people say that there are no two snowflakes alike. However,...more

Giant Meteor Hits Greenland?

A burst of light pierced the Greenlandish darkness on the night of December 9th. It is thought that a meteor may have plunged through the atmosphere and landed on the southern part of the island. Seismic...more

Dust-on-Snow: On Spring Winds, Something Wicked Thus Way Comes

On spring winds, something wicked this way comes. At least for the Colorado Rocky Mountains and their ecosystems, as well as people who depend on snowmelt from these mountains as a regional source of water....more

Altostratus

Altostratus clouds (weather symbol - As) consist of water and some ice crystals. They belong to the Middle Cloud group (2000-7000m up). An altostratus cloud usually covers the whole sky and has a gray...more

Cirrostratus

Cirrostratus (weather symbol - Cs) clouds consist almost entirely of ice crystals and belong to the High Cloud (5000-13000m) group. They are sheetlike thin clouds that usually cover the entire sky. The...more

Cumulonimbus

Cumulonimbus (weather symbol - Cb) clouds belong to the Clouds with Vertical Growth group. They are generally known as thunderstorm clouds. A cumulonimbus cloud can grow to such heights that it actually...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA