ice crystals

precipitation consisting of small, slowly falling crystals of ice.

Also called ice needles.

Origin of ice crystals

First recorded in 1840–50

There would be ice-crystals in the very centre of his heart, that heart that had glowed so fiercely with the lust of life.

The Trail of '98 |Robert W. Service
It is caused by the refraction of light passing through moisture, which at the usual height is in the form of ice-crystals.

Reading the Weather |Thomas Morris Longstreth
The ice-crystals merrily crepitate as they break up, when the bonds of frost are withdrawn.

The Alps |Martin Conway
In low temperatures everything became covered with ice-crystals, deposited from the air, which eventually grew into huge blocks.

South! |Sir Ernest Shackleton

To my poor faculty the splendour of the ice-crystals remains the one memorial thing.

Wilfrid Cumbermede |George MacDonald