Snow and ice

📖 In short

Snow falling from the sky is made of tiny ice crystals that form from water vapor in cold clouds, then stick together into light white flakes that fall slowly and cover the ground in a beautiful white blanket.

🤩 Did you know?

Up to 100 ice crystals can join together to make a flake more than 2.5 centimeters across.
Flat crystals form at about 15 degrees below zero.
Snow can fall near the equator on mountains higher than 4880 meters.
Fresh snow has lots of air in it, so it soaks up sound and everything goes quiet.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Six arms

Most snow crystals have six arms or six sides, in beautiful and varied shapes. It's said no two are exactly alike!

🔍 Temperature makes the shape

A snow crystal's shape depends on how cold and damp it is: some are flat plates, some branching stars, and some little columns or needles.

💡 Why is snow white?

A single snow crystal is clear like glass, but when lots of crystals are together, light bounces off their sides in every direction, so we see them as white.

🎯 Fun in the snow

Children love playing in snow: building snowmen, sledging and throwing snowballs. And snow covers the ground and protects little plants from the bitter cold.