Word: interlock
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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...itself. Often hexagonal-shaped, the tiny crystals that make up snowflakes are as exquisitely formed as the finest man-made jewelry. As the crystals alter their beautiful structure under the influence of wind, temperature change, icy vapors and the weight of fresh snow, they may lose their ability to interlock. They degenerate into coarser, larger crystals and sometimes even into lumps of ice. Such "old" snow cannot maintain a good grip on the soil or underlying layers of snow. The slightest disturbance may tear it free: the sonic boom of a passing aircraft, the stresses created by a pair...