Crystal Garden

From a tiny seed.

A little ice. A little vapour.
Watch six sides become a snow crystal.

Start with a climate

Choosing a climate starts a fresh crystal.

Temperature −15 °C Water vapour 75 / 100

Change the air as it grows. Existing ice stays; new edges respond.

Crystal view

Growth time0.0 s

Frozen cells1

A simplified, flat snow-crystal model. Temperature is illustrative; vapour is a relative level, not relative humidity.

Growing from the centre

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Crystal Garden

Grow a snow crystal from a tiny seed. Change the air, watch six delicate arms branch, and discover how small conditions shape intricate patterns.

A pale six-armed snow crystal branching across a deep teal circular growth chamber.

Enable JavaScript in a browser with WebGL 2 to run this interactive simulation.

Snow crystals grow when water vapour joins a tiny piece of ice. The six-sided structure of ice helps give a snow crystal its shape.

Vapour spreads through the air and collects at the ice boundary. Exposed tips can collect more, so branches grow outward.
All six arms experience the same air. Their shared conditions help them grow similar patterns.
Temperature and water vapour change how new edges grow. Existing ice remains when you move the sliders. Choosing a climate or Restart crystal begins again.
Growth age shows new tips in pale ice and older regions in teal. The experiment stops when a branch reaches the edge of its chamber.

Try this: Let Fern grow, then lower Water vapour halfway through. Compare the new edges with a fresh Plate crystal. This is a simplified flat model: temperatures are illustrative, vapour is a relative level, and simulation seconds are not real snowflake growth times.