Ice needle

From Glossary of Meteorology
(Redirected from Ice needles)



ice needle

A long, thin ice crystal, axis coincident with the c axis of ice and with the cross section perpendicular to its long dimension being, at least in part, hexagonal.

Ice needles grow in a narrow range of temperature near -4°C and also at much lower temperatures, below -25° to -50°C depending on ice supersaturation.


Copyright 2024 American Meteorological Society (AMS). For permission to reuse any portion of this work, please contact permissions@ametsoc.org. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 U.S. Code § 107) or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S.Copyright Act (17 USC § 108) does not require AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, require written permission or a license from AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement.