Janko Gravner at UC Davis and David Griffeath at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have modeled snowflake growth, as reported on [this web page][1]: > the researchers were able to recreate a wide range of natural snowflake shapes. Rather than trying to model every water molecule, it divides the space into three-dimensional chunks one micrometer across. The program takes about 24 hours to produce one "snowfake" on a modern desktop computer. <br /> ![Snowflake][2]<br /> Paper, code, and movies on this modeling are available [here][3]. Here is a [1min17sec YouTube video][4] of growth simulations following this model; and here is a [26sec, more colorful set of simulations][5]. <hr /> <b>Added</b>. Some added detail from the G-G papers: > The building blocks for snowflakes are hexagonally arranged molecules of natural ice (*Ih*). Just how the elaborate designs emerge as water vapor freezes is still poorly understood.... The solidification process involves complex physical chemistry of diffusion limited aggregation and attachment kinetics....Our basic set-up features solidification Cellular Automata on the triangular lattice $\mathbb{T}$ (to reflect the arrangement of water molecules in ice crystals). To echo Igor, it's "not so simple"! <hr /> A more physically based, 3D model is explored in the paper "Monte Carlo Simulation of the Formation of Snowflakes," by Maruyman and Fujiyoshi [Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences][6], 2005. Comparisons of the shape to "observed snowflakes" are made: <br /> ![Snowflake Observed][7]<br /> [1]: http://www.physorg.com/news119784799.html [2]: https://people.csail.mit.edu/~orourke/MathOverflow/Snowflake.jpg [3]: http://psoup.math.wisc.edu/Snowfakes.htm [4]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEWYVCbOskQ [5]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_a2oTC1Ekk&feature=endscreen&NR=1 [6]: http://journals.ametsoc.org/toc/atsc/62/5 [7]: https://people.csail.mit.edu/~orourke/MathOverflow/SnowflakeObserved.jpg