Snow: An Icon and Hexagon at the Same Time
Everyone, besides some tanned Floridians, knows the feelings that the first cold front of the fall brings as it makes its way through their hometown. For those who have been in a place that sees cold weather, we know what it feels like don’t we? It blows through your hair, makes your skin shudder, sets wind chimes into motion and reminds you to take out your winter wardrobe. Then, like the smell of something familiar, you are on your way to cold weather memories and anticipation. Every individual has their first thoughts of eating turkey, Christmas and New Year’s, but of all these key events that come to mind there is one common tie to unite them: snow.
Whether you like the cold stuff or not, it is quite possibly the only iconic weather in Western culture. There is snow during Thanksgiving Day football games, in the hearts of children dreaming of a white Christmas and the scene of New York Times Square with snow falling over the crowd as lovers kiss when the ball drops. Could we ever have the same feelings about any other weather events? Tornadoes, hurricanes, hail, torrential rain and lightning are powerful forces of nature, but they are not magical like snow.
So how does this iconic show of nature occur? It is a question just about every human being has contemplated at one time or another right along with Why is the sky blue?’ Well, for those who would like to seal the deal, when moisture in the air freezes, it crystallizes into what we have named snow’. Sleet is frozen rain and hail is a whale of another color, but snow comes from one place and one place only. Ever wanted to touch the clouds? Well, unless you drive up the side of the right mountain or on top of the Space Needle at the right time, having snow in your hand is the closest encounter you can have with a cloud. The moisture in a cloud freezes with the water molecules forming around a piece of dust in the atmosphere. The vapor crystal forms hexagonal facets resulting from the molecular shape that water, H2O, forms when it is bound in its most stable arrangement.
From this point on it’s a free for all. As the crystal forms it becomes heavier and makes it way down to Earth and picks up moisture on the way. The six jagged edges of the hexagon are great places for nearby water molecules to hitch a ride and that is when the magic begins to happen. Just about everyone will tell you that a snowflake is completely symmetrical, but that isn’t the case. Each six arms of the snowflake develop completely independent of each other, which leads to irregularities in each individual snowflake. The only reason snowflakes look so completely symmetrical is due to the fact that each of the arms is forming under the exact same conditions such as humidity, temperature, wind and so on. These irregularities make each arm of every individual snowflake one of a kind. Sounds kind of like us huh? Next time you let snow melt on your face or fall into your hand, know that you are encountering a one-of-a-kind hexagon shaped piece of cloud.
