The snowflake is one of the most beautiful structures in nature. Its beauty comes from the way that it forms.

Snowflakes start out as water vapor in a cloud. When the weather gets cold enough, the tiny water droplets start to freeze.

As they do so, they attach themselves to a dust particle or pollen in the air. There, they form ice crystals that eventually gather to become snowflakes.

All snowflake crystals have six sides because they start from the same basic structure. However, as they travel through the air, they grow and develop in different ways. Other branches of ice crystals attach and grow from the main structure.

In addition, atmospheric conditions can affect the growth of ice crystals. They experience very small changes in temperature and moisture as they fall to the ground.

These slight changes in weather conditions can dramatically alter how the molecules act and ice crystals form. Because these conditions are never exactly the same, each snowflake is unique.

Even the size of snowflakes can vary greatly. The average snowflake, which is composed of many ice crystals, measures between 0.5 and 5 millimeters in diameter. However, some snowflakes in nature have been up to 20 centimeters wide.