Why are snowflakes, functionally, planar?

Sorry to contradict a fellow Quoran but, if you read the Physical Properties of Ice, you will see that the crystal structure made by linked water molecules is not planar. read more

The planar shape and branching shape is an example of dendritic growth, and this requires a certain degree of “undercooling”, i.e. the crystal assembly starts from water vapour cooled down below its actual freezing point. Ice crystals grown closer to the theoretical freezing point are not planar like snowflakes. read more

The delicate shapes of ideal snowflakes, with many branchings and vertices while maintaining close to six-fold rotational symmetry, depends on details of the motion of the snowflake in the atmosphere as it is growing. read more