Editing Snow (section)

===Classification of snowflakes===
{{Main||Snowflake#Classification}}
[[File:Snowflakeschapte00warriala-p11-p21-p29-p39.jpg|thumb|right|An early classification of snowflakes by [[Israel Perkins Warren]]<ref>
{{cite book
 |last        = Warren
 |first       = Israel Perkins
 |author-link = Israel Perkins Warren
 |title       = Snowflakes: a chapter from the book of nature
 |publisher   = American Tract Society
 |date        = 1863
 |location    = Boston
 |pages       = 164
 |url         = https://archive.org/details/snowflakeschapte00warriala
 |access-date = November 25, 2016
 |url-status=live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160909180658/https://archive.org/details/snowflakeschapte00warriala
 |archive-date = September 9, 2016
 |df          = mdy-all
}}</ref>]]

[[Micrography]] of thousands of snowflakes from 1885 onward, starting with [[Wilson Bentley|Wilson Alwyn Bentley]], revealed the wide diversity of snowflakes within a classifiable set of patterns.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263168|title=No two snowflakes are alike|date=December 7, 2008|author=Chris V. Thangham|access-date=July 14, 2009|work=Digital Journal|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091228011231/http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263168|archive-date=December 28, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Closely matching snow crystals have been observed.<ref name="identical_crystals">{{cite news
 |author      = Randolph E. Schmid
 |title       = Identical snowflakes cause flurry
 |agency      = Associated Press
 |newspaper   = The Boston Globe
 |date        = June 15, 1988
 |access-date  = November 27, 2008
 |quote       = But there the two crystals were, side by side, on a glass slide exposed in a cloud on a research flight over Wausau, Wis.
 |url         = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8066647.html
 |url-status=live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110624033612/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-8066647.html
 |archive-date = June 24, 2011
 |df          = mdy-all
}}</ref>

[[Ukichiro Nakaya]] developed a crystal morphology diagram, relating crystal shapes to the temperature and moisture conditions under which they formed, which is summarized in the following table.<ref name = Snowenclyclopedia/>
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Crystal structure morphology as a function of temperature and water saturation
|-
! colspan=2| Temperature range
! colspan=2| Saturation range
! colspan=2| Types of snow crystal
|-
!°C
!°F
!g/m<sup>3</sup>
!oz/cu yd
! ''below'' saturation
! ''above'' saturation
|-
| {{convert|0|to|-3.5|C|F|0|disp=table}}
| {{convert|0.0|to|0.5|g/m3|oz/cuyd|disp=table}}
| style="text-align:center;" | Solid plates
| style="text-align:center;" | Thin plates
Dendrites
|-
| {{convert|-3.5|to|-10|C|F|0|disp=table}}
| {{convert|0.5|to|1.2|g/m3|oz/cuyd|disp=table}}
| style="text-align:center;" | Solid prisms
Hollow prisms
| style="text-align:center;" | Hollow prisms
Needles
|-
| {{convert|-10|to|-22|C|F|0|disp=table}}
| {{convert|1.2|to|1.4|g/m3|oz/cuyd|disp=table}}
| style="text-align:center;" | Thin plates
Solid plates
| style="text-align:center;" | Sectored plates
Dendrites
|-
| {{convert|-22|to|-40|C|F|0|disp=table}}
| {{convert|1.2|to|0.1|g/m3|oz/cuyd|disp=table}}
| style="text-align:center;" | Thin plates
Solid plates
| style="text-align:center;" | Columns
Prisms
|}
Nakaya discovered that the shape is also a function of whether the prevalent moisture is above or below saturation. Forms below the saturation line tend more toward solid and compact while crystals formed in supersaturated air tend more toward lacy, delicate, and ornate. Many more complex growth patterns also form, which include side-planes, bullet-rosettes, and planar types, depending on the conditions and ice nuclei.<ref name=BaileyHallett>{{cite journal
|author = Matthew Bailey
|author2=John Hallett
 |year = 2004
|title = Growth rates and habits of ice crystals between −20 and −70C
|journal = Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
|volume = 61
|issue = 5
|pages = 514–544
|doi = 10.1175/1520-0469(2004)061<0514:GRAHOI>2.0.CO;2
|bibcode = 2004JAtS...61..514B|doi-access = free
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Kenneth G. Libbrecht|url=http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer/primer.htm|title=A Snowflake Primer|date=October 23, 2006|publisher=[[California Institute of Technology]]|access-date=June 28, 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710022028/http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/primer/primer.htm|archive-date=July 10, 2009|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Kenneth G. Libbrecht|title=The Formation of Snow Crystals|journal=American Scientist|volume=95|issue=1|pages=52–59|date=January–February 2007|doi=10.1511/2007.63.52}}</ref> If a crystal has started forming in a column growth regime at around {{convert|-5|C|F|0}} and then falls into the warmer plate-like regime, plate or dendritic crystals sprout at the end of the column, producing so called "capped columns".<ref name="natgeojan07" />

Magono and Lee devised a classification of freshly formed snow crystals that includes 80 distinct shapes. They documented each with micrographs.<ref name = magono-lee>
{{Citation
 | last1 = Magono
 | first1 = Choji
 | last2 = Lee
 | first2 = Chung Woo
 | title = Meteorological Classification of Natural Snow Crystals
 | place = Hokkaido
 | journal = Journal of the Faculty of Science
 | volume = 3
 | issue = 4
 | date = 1966
 | edition = Geophysics
 | series = 7
 | pages = 321–335
 | language = en
 | hdl = 2115/8672
 }}</ref>