Ice particles shaped like lollipops fall from clouds
Tiny ‘ice-lollies’ may pull water from the atmosphere
LOLLY LOOK-SEE A research flight observed tiny ice particles that look like miniature lollipops in clouds above the British Isles.
FAAM
Ice-Lolly
\AIS LOL-ee\ n.
A small ice particle made of a needle-shaped ice crystal and a single drizzle-sized water droplet
Right now, somewhere in the world, it could be raining lollies. A 2009 research flight through clouds above the British Isles gathered ice particles with an unusually sweet look. Each millimeter-sized particle consisted of a stick-shaped piece of ice with a single water droplet frozen on the end, giving it the appearance of a lollipop. Atmospheric scientist Stavros Keppas of the University of Manchester in England and colleagues report the discovery of the atmospheric confections in a paper to be published in Geophysical Research Letters.
The ice-lollies, as Keppas dubs them, start as pristine, six-sided ice crystals formed in the tops of clouds. A stream of relatively warm air cut through the clouds, creating a zone of water
