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The classic image of 12 snowflakes, each unique and distinct from one another

It's often been told to me that all snowflakes are unique. It's led to the phrase "special snowflake" to describe something or someone who is unique/distinct from all others. Even Wikipedia states:

Snowflakes are also seen as a symbol of uniqueness as no two are perfectly identical.

From Wikipedia's article "Snowflake". This quote has since been removed as being "unverifiable"

I've been thinking about this for awhile. There have historically been a lot of snowflakes. Every day, an inconceivably large number of snowflakes are created and dispersed around Earth.

An aerial view of several hundred square miles of snow-covered mountains

Throughout Earth's history, there have been an inconceivably large number of snowstorms, each also depositing its own inconceivably large number of snowflakes onto Earth.

It's even highly possible that, for hundreds of millions of years of Earth's past, it's been nearly or entirely frozen.

An artist's concept of "Snowball Earth"

Aside from sub-micrometer positioning (even two identical iPhone units are off by a number of nanometers), I find it very difficult to believe that of all the snowflakes that fall in a storm, no two are alike. I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that all snowflakes throughout Earth's history have been completely distinct from each other.

As I went to research this, all the claims that all snowflakes are unique come from studies of up to thousands of snowflakes. If I clean the snow off my car after a snowstorm, I will have discarded more snowflakes than have appeared in total across all these studies I've seen.

It seems this all originated in the late 19th Century, when photographer and scientist Wilson Bentley attempted to study and catalog snowflakes. While he did some useful work, I suspect his claim that they are all unique was clouded by his loudly-professed love for snowflakes.

So can it be true? Can all snowflakes truly be completely distinct from each other down to the micrometer?

Some research I did before writing this question:

Ky -
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    Down to the atom level it's pretty much impossible for two snowflakes of any size to be identical. – Daniel R Hicks Apr 16 '20 at 21:29
  • If you look at the images above, most of them, on closer examination (go to the web page and magnify) have defects that make them asymmetrical. If a single snowflake is not "identical" from one side to the other, how likely is it that two separate snowflakes could be identical? – Daniel R Hicks Apr 16 '20 at 22:47
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    It depends on how closely you care to examine them. A cursory glance will tell you they are all the same: they have a sixfold symmetry. – Weather Vane Apr 16 '20 at 22:52
  • One word: granularity. –  Apr 17 '20 at 00:09
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    None of the sources you quotes give an 'oh, except below the micrometre level's exception'. That appears to be your personal rule. As such, it is taking a straw man version of the claim. – Oddthinking Apr 17 '20 at 02:04
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    Thank you all for your feedback. It is because of the granularity that I chose to restrict this question to micrometers, but I understand that this was too arbitrary for this site. I suppose my takeaway will be "well yes but actually no", insofar as one can say that no two of anything are alike depending on how closely one looks. – Ky - Apr 17 '20 at 02:07
  • @Oddthinking since you are a moderator here, could you advise me? Should I put in the effort to rework this question, or will no amount of reworking make it on-topic for this site? – Ky - Apr 17 '20 at 02:10
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    I think this is a duplicate: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/2342/37236 – Laurel Apr 17 '20 at 03:39
  • Ben: I would have said yes, but I think @Laurel's discovery of a duplicate means no point. – Oddthinking Apr 17 '20 at 04:46
  • Thanks, @Laurel! I'll see if that and my research bring me a satisfying answer – Ky - Apr 17 '20 at 16:08
  • @Laurel I loved [this answer](https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/2357/26052); it crunched the numbers in a way I never could have, and gave a very satisfying answer. Thank you! I think all the other commenters here would enjoy it as well – Ky - Apr 21 '20 at 15:34

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