The typical snowflake representation with six sides and cut work type patterns with strong branches is actually not so typical in real life. In fact only one in a thousand snowflakes is actually likely to have that shape. So then what’s the shape of a regular snowflake? That’s the question scientists are trying to answer at a ski resort in Utah.

The typical 2d representation of a snowflake is also very different when seen in 3d. The researchers have come up with a way to record snowflakes as they fall “in the wild” so to say. Their camera system has an exposure of one – forty thousandth of a second as it captures the falling crystals. This is far more than the normal camera’s exposure rate of one -two hundredth of a second.

The snowflakes do not always fall alone as they tumble to the ground. Sometimes they join water droplets in the air on their way down and change shape. If too much water gets absorbed they become small pellet like shapes called “graupel”. Even if they do not absorb water droplets they may end up sticking with other snowflakes on their way down.

This causes larger snowflakes with more complex designs to be formed on the way to the ground. So far the researchers have had trouble coming up with a basic shape that all snowflakes correspond to, but the research on this interesting science project continues.