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A snowflake forms around a speck of dust, salt, or a bacterium that winds carried high in the sky. The tiny snow crystal grows by more and more water sticking to its surface as the wind whips it around inside a cloud. When the flake gets heavy enough that gravity kicks in, it falls to the earth. Each snowflake has its own unique pattern but they all have one feature in common: they all have six sides. This feature is the result of the water that makes up the snowflake. The chemistry of water dictates that water molecules which bond together take on particular shapes, crystalizing as the water freezes to form a six-sided ring. Source: SmithsonianMag.com