Let it snow
A capped column snowflake with a collection of rime If you saw something like this falling from the sky, you might think that the weather outside was indeed frightful. But this dumbbell shaped object is, in fact, a super-magnified snowflake — yes, a snowflake. Not so frightful after all. This particular snowflake is a capped column, one of many types of snowflakes. The fuzzy texture on its two hexagonal ends is called rime. Sometimes, when a snowflake, or snow crystal, passes through a cloud on its way down to earth, it collides with super-cold water droplets—clouds, after all, are just a bunch of coalesced drops of water. This collision causes the cloud’s water droplets to freeze and stick to the surface of the snow crystal. When these frozen droplets accumulate on the crystal’s surface, the snowflake becomes bedecked with rime. If a snow crystal collects too much rime, its original identity can be obscured. Snowflakes that experience this type of identity crisis are called graupel. This snowflake’s portrait was taken by a low temperature scanning electron microscope. Photo: Electron and Confocal Microscopy Laboratory, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture...
Source: The Why Files - Thursday, 2 February
Related articles:
- Older News
- 9Vote! Snow hits Bosnian capital
PhysOrg - Monday, 14 May
- 4Vote! Snow snaps give you a better weather picture
LabSpaces - Friday, 11 May
- 7Vote! End of Winter: How 2012 snow stacks up
- 7Vote! CA storm makes ripe ski conditions, snow dangers
(AP)
Yahoo Science News - Friday, 2 March
- 6Vote! NWS: Storm to bring snow to parts of South
(AP)
- 5Vote! Snow, ice coat the Balkans with unworldly beauty
(AP)
- 5Vote! New Survey Snaps Amazing Images of Snow Leopards, Prey
(LiveScience.com)
- 4Vote! Image: Snow-bound Italy
- 4Vote! Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48, but elsewhere
(AP)
- 14Vote! Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48; but elsewhere
- 8Vote! Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48; but elsewhere
(AP)
- 7Vote! Where's the snow? Not in Lower 48; but elsewhere
(AP)
- 3Vote! Elusive Snow Leopards Photographed, Steal Camera
(LiveScience.com)
- 9Vote! U.S. Snow Drought Could Have Serious Implications
Scientific American - Thursday, 5 January
- 10Vote! A look at Philadelphia's snow removal ordinance: Code (10-720)
(ContributorNetwork)
- 6Vote! Why does snow disappear?
The Why Files - Tuesday, 3 January
- 12Vote! Satellite Images Create Real Snow Globe
(SPACE.com)
- 14Vote! Hubble Serves Up a Holiday Snow Angel
Space.com - Thursday, 15 December
- 10Vote! Dashing through the snow, in a one-truck radar dish
- 8Vote! First significant snow of winter to hit central U.S.
(Reuters)
