[Caveat - This is garage science at best. Although I attempted to control as many variables as possible, this was work conducted outdoors and not inside a cold lab. In addition, the experiment was conducted in my backyard (out of convenience) where the thin snowpack likely had an effect on the faceting process as well. Nonetheless, there was a steep temperature gradient at the snow surface and the crystals clearly have undergone faceting.]

Just before New Year's I set up two thermocrons - temperature sensors - one at the snow surface, the other 2 cms below the surface. The idea was to measure the temperature gradient in the top few cms of the snowpack as well as photograph the metamorphism of the snow crystals at the snow surface as they went from stellars to facets. The annotated graph illustrates the temperature swings responsible for diurnal near-surface faceting event that took place from 12/31 - 1/8. The first photo is of a beautiful dendritic stellar that fell on New Year's Eve.

Photos from January 2. Notice the decomposing fragments as well as early evidence of faceting (angular corners.)

Photos from January 5. Sharp, angular, near-surface faceted crystals ranging from .5-1mm in size.

Photo from January 8. The entire snowpack consists of facets. However, when I took this photo, the snow surface was beginning to warm and there was evidence of necking (bonding) between the grains at the surface.