y that has been carried up
in the moisture globules. This results in frequent electrical
discharges, causing great waves of condensed and rarefied air, which, in
the rarefied portions, produces still more intense cold; so that we have
the conditions for a mighty struggle between the elements, which is
intensified by a constant and terrific electric cannonade. Undoubtedly
there are also whirlwinds in the cloud, similar to those that sometimes
visit the earth, which would tend to gather up the hailstones and
aggregate them into large masses. It is a mighty battle between the
moisture-laden, superheated air, ascending from the surface of the
earth, and the powers residing in the upper regions of cold. Nature is
constantly struggling to find an equilibrium of her forces, and a
hailstorm is only one of the little domestic flurries that take place
when she is setting her house to rights. Hailstorms are usually
confined to very narrow limits, and they can prevail on a grand scale
only in hot climates, where we have the conditions for wide differences
of temperature between the upper and lower regions of the atmosphere;
and, also, where the conditions are favorable, for an enormous amount of
absorption of moisture into the atmosphere.

When snow is formed in the atmosphere, the conditions are quite
different from those of a hailstorm; it is usually in a lower plane of
the atmosphere, and there is no violent commotion, as is the case with
the latter. A volume of air laden with moisture comes in contact with a
colder volume of air, when condensation takes place, as in the case of
rain, except that the moisture is immediately frozen. In this case both
volumes of air may be below the freezing point, but one is very much
colder than the other. If the snow reaches the earth it will be because
the air is below the freezing point all the way down. Snow is formed at
all seasons of the year. We may have a snowstorm on a high mountain when
we have extreme heat at sea-level.

In summer time of course the snow melts as soon as it falls into a
stratum of air with a temperature above the freezing point, and
continues its journey from that point as raindrops instead of
snowflakes. In the formation of a snowflake Nature does some of her
most beautiful work. A snowflake first forms with six ice spangles,
radiating from a common center. Shorter ones form on these six spokes,
standing at an angle of about sixty degrees, on each side of each spoke