In the UK there are, on average, just 23.7 days of snow fall or sleet a year. However, precipitation in the form of ice crystals, or snowflakes, is an important feature within the atmosphere, both in the UK and worldwide. Research indicates that 50% of global precipitation events are linked to the production of ice in clouds, either falling as snow or melting as it falls to produce rain1. This percentage increases to 85% of precipitation events in mid-latitudes, covering the UK, and 98% of precipitation events in Polar Regions. The small ice particles formed in clouds precipitate slowly, at a much smaller velocity than large snowflakes falling in the lower atmosphere.