Weather field note
Six-sided artist
The Snowflake's Secret
Every snowflake grows six sides, and no one has ever found two that are exactly alike.
Let's look closer
Why does a snowflake always have six points?
snowflake begins as a tiny speck of dust high in a cold cloud, around which water vapor freezes into the very first sliver of ice. Because of how water molecules naturally lock together at the molecular level, ice almost always builds outward in a six-sided pattern, no matter where in the world it forms. As the growing snowflake tumbles through the cloud, it passes through pockets of slightly different temperature and moisture, and each tiny shift in its path adds new ice in a slightly different way, shaping it into its own one-of-a-kind design.
Look for this
Explorer clue
Catch a falling snowflake on a dark mitten and look closely before it melts, you may spot its six delicate points.
Your turn to wonder
Curiosity question
If every snowflake is one of a kind, what makes you one of a kind too?
Keep wandering
