You can almost set your clock by it: almost every year, right at Thanksgiving, we have a major snowstorm. This year’s was right on schedule to the delight of those of us who didn’t have to go anywhere, or go far, and the dismay of many who had to travel. We still have a few inches of snow on the ground, and piles and piles around. Yesterday morning as I walked to work in the single-digit cold, the surface of undisturbed snow had giant crystals. I thought of the man who is arguably the modern master of snowflake photography, Kenneth Libbrecht.
Libbrecht is following in the footsteps of a few who have tried over hundreds of years to somehow capture the magic of snowflakes—or, if you want to be more scientifically accurate, snow crystals. One source in my library pegs the earliest (failed) attempt in 1555, but the drawings were lost, and an engraver, likely a novice, tried in vain to recreate what had been given to his boss. Out of the 23 drawings, only one figure even came close to resembling anything like a snow crystal. (Bentley and Humphries 9). The Arctic explorer William Scoresby finally got it right in 1820, drawing from the deck of his ship as it sailed ever north. Then came W.A. Bentley, whose exquisite book Snow Crystals, published in 1931, was the first real catalog of snow crystal types—yes, there are types of snowflakes. That book, which contains over 2400 black and white photos, is a monumental achievement. Co-author W.J. Humpreys notes Bentley spent many thousands of hours taking pictures in a freezing shed, creating a reversed negative image, and then meticulously scraping away any part of the emulsion on the film that wasn’t part of the snow crystal (Bentley and Humphreys 9, 10). Their book has been reprinted again and again. Here is a sample page:
Which now brings us back to Kenneth Libbrecht. Where Bentley cataloged the wonder of snow crystals in black and white, Libbrecht, who is a physics professor at CalTech, dazzles with color. He, too, has spent thousands of hours chasing snow crystals all over the world.
Libbrecht points out that each part of the world, when governed by certain weather patterns, tends to produce certain types or shapes of snow crystals. Moisture content, atmospheric conditions, and the variability of those conditions even within the same storm all play a role in how the snowflake ends up looking.
Here are just a few questions you can find the answers to by visiting Libbrecht’s Web site Snow Crystals.com (and be prepared to get sucked down the rabbit hole):
· How many sides or branches can a snow crystal have?
· Why is snow white?
· What’s the biggest snow crystal ever observed?
· Can you change how a snow crystal forms by changing the sounds water is exposed to?
· Does hot water freeze faster than cold water?
· Are there any snowflakes that are identical?
· How can I take my own snow crystal pictures?
Libbrecht has published several gorgeous coffee-table books of snow crystal photos, so if you’re wondering what to get that person on your list who has everything, dive in and dazzle the jaded with one of his books. Or, maybe you’d like to give them something more 3-D . . . .
. . . . Well, you can own or gift a snow crystal that doesn’t melt—yes, a glass one like those in the previous image. I’ll be selling these at the Hometown Holiday Craft Fair December 7, 2024, at the Buena Vista Community Center, 9-4 p.m. You can also stop by Buena Vista Hair and Nail, right across from the Post Office in Buena Vista (and see about spiffing up your 'do with Jamie, Tammy, or Shannon).
Hope to see you out and about this Christmas season reveling in the magic and science of snowflakes! MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
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