SNOW WONDER by Jacob Rodenburg & Drew Monkman
Snowflakes
They shine like silver butterflies Drifting in the sun, As though they fly on crystal wings That winter cold has spun. They catch and hold each soft sunbeam And then, without a sound, Turn into sparkling gossamer Before they touch the ground.
With so much white around us on snowy days, we don’t often think about by just how magical a single snowflake can be. And yet it is true, every snowflake is different— each flake is a beautifully wrought snow crystal—a diamond of frozen water, and we should take the time to admire its delicate and exquisite beauty.
Sandra
A snowflake will form on the tiniest particle of dust. As the snowflake tumbles through the air, it forms a complex and beautiful snow crystal. When first formed, a snowflake is likely to be a hexagonal prism looking like a honeycomb. As it grows larger, arms of crystal form at the corners of the crystal (always six sided) and they begin to take on ever more complex and stunning shapes, often star like. However, they can also form as needles, plates, sheathes and columns (see below). A fully formed snowflake crystal is nothing short of magic! Here is a story of single snowflake… It all began 1,000 years ago. A volcanic eruption in the Philippines sent up a cloud of dust and ash skyward 12 kilometers above lofty mountains. For many years one particle of ash tumbled around the sky buffeted by winds, mixing with the upper and lower atmosphere.
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LOWDKIDS Lake of the Woods Area News Winter 2021
One December night, this small particle ended up in a part of the atmosphere that Liatsos was super-cooled and stable… about -20°C. Moisture in the air gradually increased as winds blew warm ocean air upward over the mountains. A lone particle of ash bumped against molecules of water and a snow seed was born—a microscopic crystal so small even the world’s most powerful microscope would have trouble seeing it.
One by one other molecules were pulled towards the growing crystal fusing and becoming larger. Within two hours, the snowflake had grown a thousandfold, into a perfect hexagon. The snow crystal, now a snowflake, had become so heavy, it began to fall. Slowly at first, and then gathering momentum, it danced towards the earth. Every layer of air it fell through had slightly different levels of moisture and temperature. And each layer sculpted the flake into an ever more complex and beautiful shape. I was walking with my two children in the first snowfall of the season, tongues outstretched to catch the tumbling snowflakes from above. One so delicately made, fell upon my daughter’s warm tongue and she smiled as it melted into the tiniest droplet of water, so soft it was almost never there.
