Snowflakes photographed by new high-speed camera

In the late 1800’s, Wilson Bentley and Gustav Hellmann began photographing snowflakes. Their photos would go on to spark the public’s fascination with snowflakes. Today University of Utah engineer Cale Fallgatter and atmospheric scientist Tim Garrett are using a new camera system that photographs free-falling snowflakes. The technology behind the camera that revealed the intricate, imperfect beauty of snowflakes can now expose their potential danger. About three years ago, a new high-speed camera system captured freefalling ice crystals so well it might as well be yelling “freeze!“. Developed at the University of Utah with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the system arose from scientific curiosity about snow. Now, a less expensive, hardier version is headed to the marketplace to help improve safety. This next-generation model has the same incredible capability, but is designed for use by departments of transportation to anticipate road conditions. “Right now the problem in the transpor