Hexagonal prism



This is a snow crystal in its most basic form. Such crystals are usually so small that they can barely be seen with the naked eye.



This is how most snowflakes start out life - before sprouting branches from their corners and forming more elaborate structures.

Simple prism snowflake



This is similar to the previous type, although the facets of this one are decorated with various indents and ridges.

Stellar plate snowflake



These are thin, plate-like crystals with six broad arms that form a star-like shape. Their faces are often decorated with amazingly elaborate and symmetrical markings.



Plate-like snowflakes form when the temperature is near -2 °C or near -15 °C. Such snowflakes are common. Advertisement

Sectored plate snowflake



This is a stellar plate snowflake, but with particularly distinctive ridges that point to the corners between adjacent prism facets.

Stellar dendrite snowflake with branches and side branches



These are fairly large crystals, typically 2-4mm in diameter so easily seen with the naked eye. These are the most popular snow crystal type, seen in holiday decorations everywhere.

This snowflake has fernlike stellar dendrites - the branches of the stellar crystals have so many sidebranches that they look like ferns.



These are the largest snow crystals, often falling to earth with diameters of 5mm or more. Despite their large size, these are single crystals of ice - the water molecules are lined up from one end to the other.



The best powder snow, where you sink to your knees while skiing, is made of stellar dendrites. These crystals can be extremely thin and light, so they make a low-density snowpack.

Hollow column snowflake



This is a hexagonal column with conical hollow regions in the ends.



These crystals are very small, so you need a good magnifier to see the hollow regions.

Needle snowflake



Such snowflakes are slender columns that grow when the temperature is around -5 °C.



On your sleeve these snowflakes look like small bits of white hair.



One of the amazing things about snow crystals is that their growth changes from thin, flat plates to long, slender needles when the temperature changes by just a few degrees. Why this happens remains something of a scientific mystery.

Capped column snowflake



These crystals first grow into stubby columns. They are then blown into a region of the clouds where the growth becomes plate-like.



The result is two thin plate-like crystals growing on the ends of an ice column.

12-sided snowflake



This is actually two snowflakes joined together - one rotated at 30 degrees relative to the other.



Such snowflakes are quite rare.

Triangular crystal snowflake



These are formed when plates grow as truncated triangles, when the temperature is near -2 °C. These crystals are also rare.

Rime crystal



Clouds are made of countless water droplets and sometimes these droplets collide with and stick to snow crystals. The frozen droplets are called rime.