SALT LAKE CITY — Most people already know that virtually no two snowflakes are alike, but a new study led by University of Utah researchers offers new insight into how and why all of these individual snowflakes fall the way they do.
Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Physics of Fluids last week, note that despite the “complexity of snowflake structures and the non-uniform nature of the turbulence,” snowflake acceleration, or how fast snow falls, can be “uniquely determined” through a math equation.
“It suggests that there is something underlying in the atmosphere that is really deeply simple, and I’m not quite sure what it is but our results suggest there may be ways to describe one of the most difficult aspects of the atmospheric sciences in a way that perhaps could be approached by a computer model in a fairly straightforward way,” said Tim Garrett, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah, and one of the study’s co-authors.
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The findings could open the door for a better understanding of snowstorms and avalanches, improving forecasting in the future.
Snowfall and movement
The study’s findings are more than a decade in the making. Garrett started measuring how fast snowflakes fall in Alta when he decided to dive much deeper into the subject. He figured it was the perfect topic to explore given his interest in the physics of the motion and how Utahns generally love to talk about snow.
This led to early observations that snowflakes didn’t quite fall the way they were supposed to based on the traditional weather and climate models, which were based on equipment that essentially only took into account snow falling in still air. Snow falls in way more unique ways than the models suggested, something that wasn’t all too surprising.
“Even though atmospheric scientists don’t acknowledge it, of course, everybody knows that snowflakes swirl in the air,” he said, recalling this moment to KSL.com.
So, he enlisted Dhiraj Singh and Eric Pardyjak, a pair of researchers from the university’s mechanical engineering department, to help solve the relationship between snowfall and air turbulence. They invented — and patented — an instrument called a Differential Emissivity Imaging Disdrometer to measure the mass, size and density of snowflakes to figure out this scientific mystery.
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University of Utah researchers test their Differential Emissivity Imaging Disdrometer in Red Butte Canyon. The device measures the hydrometeor mass, size and density of snowflakes. (Photo: Tim Garrett, University of Utah)
With the help of a National Science Foundation grant, the team set up the device at a site in Little Cottonwood Canyon during the 2020-2021 winter season. They studied air temperature, relative humidity, turbulence and other weather factors, and analyzed more than 500,000 individual snowflakes. All of this information provided a “comprehensive picture” never seen before, Garrett said.
What they found when they put all of this information together is they could predict how fast snow falls by using the Stokes number of the flakes, a dimensionless figure that helps scientists understand how particles will react to changes in flow like air turbulence. The Stokes number is typically higher for rain and lower for snow, which is why they fall so differently.
“Snow, as a result, tends to get buffeted around by the turbulent air currents, whereas rain tends to fall straight through them,” Garrett said. “What we ended up finding is that as long as we know the Stokes number, this one dimensionless number, then in some ways our snowflake world was our oyster. That was sufficient information for us to describe how often snowflakes had a given level of acceleration.”
The researchers also note, pointing to decades-old previous research, that updrafts in clouds influence how snowflakes form. Adding in the new knowledge means it may be possible to determine snowfall altogether by measuring cloud turbulence, Garrett explains.
Why it matters
This could have several implications moving forward. For instance, how snowflakes fall is considered a “critical parameter” for predicting weather, because the rate at which moisture falls out of clouds is traditionally a measure of how long a storm will last, Garrett said in a statement ahead of the study’s release.
He clarified to KSL.com that the new study “doesn’t immediately take us” to an answer on how to better predict the length and severity of storms, but it can offer new insights into the relationship between snowfall and wind. That could lead to breakthroughs in meteorology down the road.
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“If that is the case and we can show in the future that this really is supported, that could lead to quite significant improvements in storm modeling,” he said. “Right now, one of the biggest challenges weather models have is predicting the types of snowflakes that form in clouds. Our results hint that some of the difficulties … may actually end up being (less complicated).”
It could come down to just measuring air movement in clouds.
Meanwhile, the Differential Emissivity Imaging Disdrometer, the tool that led to this discovery, is already being used in other impactful ways. The Utah Department of Transportation purchased a few devices to help them forecast avalanches in places like Little Cottonwood Canyon because it immediately measures snow density, often a factor in avalanches.
The work isn’t done either. Garrett says he and his colleagues collected more data than they probably have time to decode; however, he plans to keep sifting through it and running experiments to better understand snowfall.
He also hopes everyone can find the beauty in how snowflakes dance in the air as they fall this winter as he and others unravel its mysteries.
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Carter Williams is an award-winning reporter who covers general news, outdoors, history and sports for KSL.com.
Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith chats with Post Malone during a Utah Hockey Club game on December … [+] 2, 2024 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. (Photo by Aaron Baker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
When you’re the Utah Hockey Club, giving away 2,000 tickets to a regular-season game is a cause for celebration, not alarm.
After all, not every pro sports team team has an unused inventory of ‘single goal view seats’ that it can tap as a tool to help entice new fans.
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It started with a simple tweet from Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith ahead of the club’s home game against the Vancouver Canucks last Wednesday.
In a followup, Smith said that he’d planned to give away the eight seats in his owner’s suite. But when he got more than 700 responses, he decided to open the invitation wider.
In the end, he put 2,000 extra people into Delta Center on top of the usual sold-out crowd of 11,131. And the fans got a good show as Utah staged a third-period rally from a 2-0 deficit before Mikhail Sergachev buried the game-winner on a 2-on-1 with 12 seconds left in overtime.
Acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2024 NHL draft weekend, Sergachev has been a massive difference-maker for the Utah team in its first season in its new home. Helping to fill holes after fellow veteran blueliners John Marino and Sean Durzi went down early with long-term injuries, 26-year-old Sergachev is averaging 25:45 a game, third-most in the entire NHL.
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With eight goals and 26 points in 33 games to date, the two-time Stanley Cup winner is also on pace to match his previous career high of 64 points in a season, set in 2022-23.
Another standout has been goaltender Karel Vejmelka. The 28-year-old now sits second in the NHL with 16.5 goals saved above expected according to MoneyPuck, and has amassed a career-best save percentage of .918.
After their vagabond years in Arizona, including their last two seasons as secondary tenants at 4,600-seat Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State University, perhaps it should come as no surprise that the re-established Utah team would come out of the gate as road warriors. Unbeaten in regulation in their last eight games, with a record of 6-0-2, they’re up to 11-6-2 on the road this season.
Utah’s home win over Vancouver last Wednesday boosted the squad to 5-5-3 on home ice. The club followed up on Sunday with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks, which has the team just outside of the Western Conference wild-card picture with one more game to go before the NHL’s three-day holiday break — hosting the Dallas Stars as part of a 13-game slate on Monday.
On Dec. 2, the Stars earned a 2-1 win at the Delta Center — Utah’s only regulation loss since Nov. 24. The Western Conference standings are tight, but the new club is trending positively toward making the playoffs in its inaugural season. The Coyotes’ only post-season appearance in the franchise’s last 12 years came as part of the expanded 24-team field in the 2020 pandemic bubble, when they eliminated the Nashville Predators in the best-of-three qualifying round before falling to the Colorado Avalanche.
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Of the ice, Smith and his wife and co-owner, Ashley, have already helped make winners out of their 31 fellow NHL owners. Smith Entertainment Group’s $1.2 billion purchase of Arizona’s hockey assets last April fueled a 140 percent increase in the valuation of the franchise — a key metric in the league’s 44 percent increase in average valuations in 2024 per Forbes estimates, which dramatically outpaces the growth of the other North American sports over the last year.
The rosy economic picture for the Utah Hockey Club and the league as a whole bodes well for the next round of collective bargaining. While the current deal is not set to expire until the end of the 2025-26 season, commissioner Gary Bettman indicated at the league’s board of governors’ meetings in Florida earlier this month that he and NHL Players’ Association executive director Marty Walsh plan to start formal discussions in February, with an eye toward potentially completing an agreement before the end of this hockey year.
Lance Holtzclaw has found a new home. The former Washington edge rusher entered the transfer portal after three years on Montlake and has signed with one of the Huskies’ former Pac-12 opponents, the Utah Utes.
Now in the Big 12, coach Kyle Whittingham’s team should be a good fit for the 6-foot-3, 225-pound pass rush specialist, which finished third in the conference in total defense, allowing 329.7 yards per game in its first year in the conference.
The Utes also finished fifth in the conference with 24 sacks, a statistic that Holtzclaw may be able to assist with if he can see the field more often.
In three years with the Huskies, the former three-star recruit who is originally from Dorchester, Massachusetts, played in 26 games and tallied 13 tackles, 2 sacks, and a fumble recovery.
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Holtzclaw’s most notable moment in a Husky uniform came in Washington’s 26-21 win over the USC Trojans in November. He came in on fourth down and pressured quarterback Miller Moss, forcing an errant throw in the game’s final seconds. He also completes an effective defensive line trade between the two schools, after the Huskies added a commitment from former Utah defensive tackle Simote Pepa last week.
The homecoming party is underway for JJ Mandaquit and his island brothers at Utah Prep.
Mandaquit had five points and four assists, while AJ Dybantsa clutched up for 21 points, five rebounds and four assists as Utah Prep edged Brewster Academy (N.H.) 45-43 to capture the ‘Iolani Prep Classic championship on Saturday night.
“I’m just happy we got the win. Before the game, our coach told us that a lot of teams that won this in the past are NBA players, so it means a lot,” said Dybantsa, who wore a blue BYU shirt post game. “Go Cougs.”
He was named the tournament most valuable player after 57 points, 27 rebounds and 17 assists in three games.
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Ebuka Okorie of Brewster Academy was named the most outstanding player. Joining them on the all-tournament team: Tanoa Scanlan, Punahou; Jordan Smith, St. Paul VI (Va.); RJ Smith, Imhotep Charter (Philadelphia); Colben Landrew, Wheeler (Ga.); Donovan Williams, Deondrea Lindsey of Oak Hill (Va.); Juan Guerrero Hernandez Jr and Rayane Solhi of Veritas Academy (Calif.); Killyan Toure and Sebastian Wilkins of Brewster; Anthony Felesi and JJ Mandaquit of Utah Prep.
Jackson Kiss added seven points in a defensive battle that required Utah Prep (13-4) to rally from an early six-point deficit.
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Ohio State-bound Killyan Toure led Brewster (12-2) with 10 points. Darien Moore added seven.
Down 45-43, Brewster got the ball with nine seconds remaining and one timeout available. After Utah Prep gave a foul, Brewster inbounded with 5.6 seconds left at midcourt. Toure drew a double team on what looked like a possible 20-foot runner at the right wing, but he delivered a pass to a wide-open Preston Fowler, who missed the potential game-winner as time expired.
Brewster was cohesive from the start, opening a 17-11 lead on Ebuka Okorie’s and-1 drive early in the second quarter. Utah Prep rallied with a 7-0 run, taking the lead on a pull-up, straightaway 3 by Dybantsa.
The Bobcats responded with a 9-2 run. Toure blew past his defender for a lefty layup, Sebastian Wilkins swished a straightaway 3 and Moore sent a bounce pass to Toure on a backdoor cut for a resounding dunk. After Wilkins scored inside, Brewster led 26-20 with 1:31 left in the first half.
Ater Bol Meen’s corner 3 opened the lead to 29-21 going into the break.
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Utah Prep, settling for isolation jumpers, shot 42% from the field in the first half. In the second quarter, they were 33% (3-for-9). The most telling number: one offensive rebound in the first 16 minutes.
Dybantsa had 11 points, four boards, one assist and one turnover by intermission. He was not deterred. He splashed a corner 3 to start the second half, and after Kiss realized the shot clock was running out and nailed a 3, Utah Prep was within 33-27.
Jackson Rasmussen’s old-school low-post bucket cut the lead to four, 33-29.
After a Dybantsa free throw and a Mandaquit dish to Kiss for a tough layup, Utah Prep was within 33-32. Brewster tried to withstand the barrage. Okorie drove for a tough basket, but Dybantsa was relentless, drawing contact and sinking two free throws.
His next drive for a bucket gave Utah Prep the lead, 36-35, with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Rasmussen surprised his defender, taking a pass from Dybantsa and exploding to the rim for a layup.
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With Brewster ice cold from the perimeter, Dybantsa scored on a tough 10-foot runner in the lane, drawing a foul. His free throw missed, but Utah Prep’s lead was 40-35 with 5:56 left.
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