There are more than eighty different varieties of snow, but all of them are made up of perfectly symmetrical and hexagonal flakes and, in addition, none is white.

Before it was known that water consisted of two molecules of hydrogen and one of oxygen, Johannes Kepler already realized in the early seventeenth century that snowflakes were always hexagonal. He was correct, although his theory was not entirely very empirical: he thought that some kind of mathematical God had discovered that this was the best way to package the particles. In the same way that bees make their hives in six-sided panels. Centuries later, hydrogen atoms were found to bond with oxygen at an angle of 104.5 degrees, in a kind of tetrahedron. It is by joining with other water molecules that the six-sided structures are formed. Kepler was right: snow is a way of compacting water.

Originally, the snowflake is a small drop of water that freezes along with others in the clouds at -35ºC. Its core is dust or pollen particles that are suspended in the atmosphere. Each flake has a different pattern, but they are all symmetrical and hexagonal. These tiny ice figures are only a few tenths of a millimeter long, but they clump together as they fall and are tossed through the air.
Snow is not white
Although we see large thicknesses formed by snow, in reality they do not contain as much water as we think. On average, depending on how the flakes were formed, 12 centimeters of snow would provide just one centimeter of water. Also do not mislead its color. They appear white, but the snowflakes are actually translucent. Light passes through them, but the multiple sides of the ice crystals cause the spectrum of light to diffuse and appear that color and not transparent.

Even if it contains water, it is not a good idea to eat snow to hydrate yourself. In addition to burning our mouth or lips, it will cause our body temperature to rise suddenly and we will become dehydrated more quickly. It is better to drink the ice, as it contains a higher proportion of water and not so much air, or to melt the snow before drinking it. Also do not trust the wind chill when it snows. It seems to be hotter. The reason is that snowflakes trap water vapor as they fall and transform it into ice. The transition from a gaseous state to a solid releases heat into the atmosphere, but it will be momentary. When I stop snowing, the cold will return.