Icy Splendor - The Secret of Snow Crystals

Snowfall prediction is one of the research projects that scientists have been pursuing on the Zugspitze. How much snow will a cloud release - and what structure will the snow mass have? This information can be of great importance for avalanche warning services in the Alps.
Whether and when an avalanche is likely to break loose is critically dependent on the structure of its ice crystals. They change as the snow ages, and that has consequences for the stability of the snow cover. TOMORROW TODAY visited a team of Swiss researchers studying the material properties of snow to get a fascinating peek into the microscopic crystalline world.