Snowflake is a solid precipitate formed by condensation of water vapor in the sky, and its structure changes with the change of temperature. Snowflakes are changed by the increase of small ice crystals. The molecules of ice are mostly hexagonal, so snowflakes are mostly hexagonal, and the shape of each snowflake is not exactly the same.
Raindrops are also a natural precipitation phenomenon. Water vapor in the atmosphere condenses into small water droplets, and a large number of small water droplets form clouds. When the water drops in the cloud reach a certain mass, they will fall to the surface, which is rainfall.
The relationship between snowflakes and raindrops
Clouds are made up of many small water droplets, which will accumulate more and more, and the clouds will gradually become thicker, heavier and bigger, and finally the air will turn into rain and fall to the ground. In the cloud, they are all small water droplets, which are mainly increased into raindrops by continuing to condense and collide with each other.
In fact, snowflakes are similar to rain, and they are also composed of small water droplets, only when the temperature is low. The formation of snow is mainly a mixed cloud, which consists of small ice crystals and supercooled water droplets. When a mass of air is saturated with ice crystals, it is not saturated with water droplets.
At this time, the water vapor in the cloud condenses on the surface of ice crystals, while the supercooled water droplets are evaporating, which produces the phenomenon that ice crystals "adsorb" water vapor from supercooled water droplets. In this case, ice crystals will grow rapidly. Besides, supercooled water is very unstable. If you touch it, it will freeze.
Therefore, when supercooled water droplets collide with ice crystals in mixed clouds, they will freeze and adhere to the surface of ice crystals, making them grow rapidly. When small ice crystals grow long enough to overcome the resistance and buoyancy of air, they will fall to the ground, which is snow.