Why is every single snowflake a little bit different from every other one?

Each one freezes in slightly different air, so its tiny ice pattern forms its own way, is correct — as a snowflake falls, it passes through changing temperature and moisture, shaping how its ice crystals grow.

Snowflakes aren't hand-painted, and they aren't all the same shape either — both ideas skip the real reason: the unique path each flake takes through the sky.

Because every snowflake takes a slightly different journey through the clouds, it's unlikely any two have ever been perfectly identical, even though they share the same six-sided pattern.