Five

I've always believed snowflakes have six sides. Yet I've photographed a few that began as triangles, and every once in a while, I'm able to clearly photograph a broken specimen. This particular flake doesn't appear to have been broken. I tried to find out if there is a name for five-sided snowflakes. Kind of like a three-legged dog, affectionately known as Tripod. (I've met a few!)

Brian Lotze, one of my favorite snowflake photographers, has better tripod snowflakes than I've been able to capture to date. I've loved incorporating triangles into my crocheted snowflakes. (My other favorite snowflake photographers include Alexey Kljatov, Don Komarechka, Monique van Someren, Nathan Myhrvold, Mark Cassino, Kenneth Libbrecht (see below), and, of course, my first mentor, although he was gone long before I was born, Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (I own ALL of his books). I haven't been able to see many of Ukichiro Nakaya's 3,000 snowflake photos, but I enjoy his research, as should every snow sport enthusiast worldwide, since he pioneered ski area snowmaking. I LOVE studying and photographing and crocheting snowflakes. Wouldn't it be grand if my own snowflake photos one day could be a minor part of this magnificent collection?

I still think there should be a special name for snowflakes with five dendrites. Our fierce wind shatters so many of my photographic specimens!

Many, many articles have been published over the decades using but often not properly crediting the fantastic information and research made possible via Kenneth G. Libbrecht, all his books (which, yes, I own every single one), Cal Tech, and SnowCrystals.com. I'd say he's probably the current authority on snowflakes. I wonder if he's ever captured a five-pointer...

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