Snowflake of ice. At that stage, the snowflake has the shape of a minute hexagon. The six "arms" of the snowflake, or dendrites, then grow independently from each of the corners of the hexagon, while either side of each arm grows independently. The microenvironment in which the snowflake grows changes dynamically as the snowflake falls through the cloud and tiny changes in temperature and humidity affect the way in which water molecules attach to the snowflake. Since the micro-environment (and its changes) are very nearly identical around the snowflake, each arm tends to grow in nearly the same way. However, being
Snowflake (slang) and the election of Donald Trump as 45th President of the U.S., generation snowflake was often shortened to simply snowflake and became a politicized insult. A November 2016 article from "The Guardian" commented: "Until very recently, to call someone a snowflake would have involved the word 'generation'." Snowflake as a politicized insult is typically used by those on the political right to insult those on the political left. In an article from the "Los Angeles Times", Jessica Roy says the alt-right in the United States pejoratively describes most liberals and those protesting against Donald Trump as "snowflakes", short for "special