A lot of others were wondering the same thing. For example, here are a couple of the comments we got:

“So how exactly did u get the recording of its size without making it melt?”

“Someone could have bulls**tted the whole story with a made up sketch, fake measurements and false claims. You dont know, i dont know, theres no telling if this even really happened….”

According to Wikipedia, which Google presented as the top organic result when clicking on the doodle, in the snowflake was observed in 1887 at 38 centimeters (15 in) in diameter in Fort Keogh, Montana.

The Wikipedia entry cites: Lyons, Walter A (1997). The Handy Weather Answer Book (2nd ed.). Detroit, Michigan: Visible Ink press. ISBN 0-7876-1034-8.

I dug up a New York Times article from 2007, which references the same snowflake, noting that it’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records, and that the snowflake was measured by a nearby rancher, who described the flakes falling in the storm which produced the flake in question, as “larger than milk pans”. It also says that there was no corroborating evidence to support the rancher’s claim.

I’m having a hard time finding anything about the record on Guinness’ site, but here are some other interesting snow-related records.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from that NYT article:

“Who of us has seen a hailstone the size of a golf ball or a baseball?” asked Kenneth G. Libbrecht, a snowflake devotee at the California Institute of Technology who runs the physics department there in his spare time. “But, clearly, they exist, because people pull them out of their freezers. Some of these things can be very, very rare, but not impossible.”

The laws of physics, he said, suggest no obvious restrictions on the size of very large flakes. But in the real world, Dr. Libbrecht added, wind might break up the fragile compilations, putting an effective size limit on what flutters down from the sky.

tagSEOBlog uploaded the following video demonstrating the animation (hat tip to Barry Schwartz):

If you go to Google.com today, you will notice a new Google doodle celebrating the 125th anniversary of the world’s largest snowflake. Then, you might ask yourself, ‘Where does Google come up with this stuff?”

The doodle is animated. A flock of birds flies away as the giant snowflake falls from the sky, to land as the second “O” in the word Google. A cow looks at it for a second, then goes about her business.

According to Wikipedia, which Google presents as the top organic result when clicking on the doodle, it was this day in 1887 when the largest snowflake was observed at 38 centimeters (15 in) in diameter in Fort Keogh, Montana.

Those visiting Google might also notice a message that says: “We’re changing our privacy policy and terms. Not the usual yada yada. Learn more.”

If you haven’t been following, Google announced some major changes to its privacy policy this past week, which is essentially a consolidation of policies across Google services. What it boils down to is that you should consider using any Google product (other than a few select products) the same as using Google, because they fall into the same terms, and Google will use data across these different services. Here is some of our coverage:

Your Grandmother Will Love Google’s New Policy Terms

Google Privacy Changes: What Do They Mean To You?

Can Consumers Opt-Out Of Google’s New Privacy Policy?

Google Privacy: “The Real Story”

Google’s Policy For Government Contracts Unchanged

Google’s Privacy Approach With Danny Sullivan and NPR

More Backlash From Google’s New Privacy Policy

Yes, Virginia, Google’s New Privacy Policy Lets You Opt Out Of Sharing Your Data

The doodle was created by artist Faith Ringgold. Here’s the bio she uses on her site:

Faith Ringgold, began her artistic career more than 35 years ago as a painter. Today, she is best known for her painted story quilts — art that combines painting, quilted fabric and storytelling. She has exhibited in major museums in the USA, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. She is in the permanent collection of many museums including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Her first book,Tar Beach was a Caldecott Honor Book and winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, among numerous other honors. She has written and illustrated eleven children’s books. She has received more than 75 awards, fellowships, citations and honors, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship for painting, two National Endowment for the Arts Awards and seventeen honorary doctorates, one of which is from her alma mater The City College of New York.

Faith Ringgold is married to Burdette Ringgold and has two daughters, Michele and Barbara Wallace; and three granddaughters, Faith, Theodora and Martha. She is a professor of art at the University of California in San Diego, California.

Here’s what Google’s doodle for the day looked like last year:

What do you think of the new doodle? Which do you like better?

Google is also no stranger to providing interesting tools based on holidays and events. See the company’s election resources, for example. Now, Google has a way to send your Valentine an interesting e-card. 

Mike Blumenthal, who keeps a close eye on all things Google Maps, noticed that Google registered the domain MapYourValentine.com, where the company has put up this: 

You can map your "special Place" and send the valentine (if you can read the letters in the CAPTCHA). You are then greeted with options for sending chocolates or flowers, conveniently mapped on Google Maps, or for finding a date, which takes you to a regular Google search for "find a date".

Google’s doodle was actually the sole cause of the spike.  A statement released this morning explained, "Clicking it brought-up the Google search of the term ‘Buckyballs’ which in turn brought up the page for the desktoy of the same name.  2,000,000+ unique visitors in total landed on the www.GetBuckyballs.com page."

Then, "When it was all said and done, Buckyballs, already the world’s best-selling desktoy, saw an alarming jump in sales: 10,000 units sold in a single day – that’s over $250,000 in product, and the term ‘Buckyballs’ has since rocketed to the top of retail and keyword search-term charts!"

Of course, we should note that the statement came courtesy of GetBuckyballs.com, so despite the use of the word "alarming," it doesn’t represent much of a complaint.

Instead, the whole situation seems more of an illustration of Google’s power.  How many other companies could generate a quarter of a million dollars in sales while trying to celebrate an obscure scientific achievement?

Hat tip goes to Steve O’Hear, in any event.

The competition drew over 33,000 submissions, so Melton’s achievement is a rather big deal.  Google will give her a netbook and a $15,000 college scholarship by way of congratulations, and you can see her doodle (called "Rainforest Habitat") for yourself a little early below.

This competition was designed to be a positive experience for a number of children, and not just Melton, though.  In an email to WebProNews, a Google representative explained that 40 regional finalists got to attend an awards ceremony where "[t]he students heard from some of this year’s expert jurors who are well-known illustrators, cartoonists, and animators from organizations such as Disney, The Sesame Street Workshop, Charles Schulz/The Peanuts Gang, and Barbie/Mattel."

The representative also wrote, "The students then visited the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City, where the 40 finalists’ doodles will be showcased in a national exhibit which will run from May 27 to August 15, 2010."

Finally, Google intends to give Melton’s school in El Dorado Springs, Missouri a $25,000 technology grant to cap off the competition.

According to Loren Baker at Search Engine Journal, the code Google is using for the doodle actually would read "Google" if scanned.

Google is really cranking out the doodles these days. Is it just me or do they appear much more frequently than they used to?

Recently, a way to make your favorite doodle stick was discovered. It is a Greasemonkey script, and if I recall correctly, Matt Cutts even tweeted about, seemingly giving it Google’s seal of approval.

What is your favorite Google doodle? Tell us in the comments.

Hitwise’s Robin Goad writes, "When looking at our Fast Moving Search Terms list a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see the term ‘walter gropius’ at the top of the list for All Categories. . . .  [Perusing] the list last Monday I noticed that the term ‘charles rennie mackintosh’ appeared in the top 10."

Both of these men were recently referenced by doodles; anyone who clicked on a doodle was then taken to a list of search results.  This is fine, and except for the cartoons themselves, not too interesting.  What makes the pattern more significant is how well Wikipedia ranks in Google’s search results, and how much traffic it consequently receives.

Almost 36 percent of the people who searched for "walter gropius" wound up at Wikipedia, according to Goad.  About 14 percent of the people who searched for "charles rennie mackintosh" did the same.  It seems as if Wikipedia’s administrators must look forward to obscure Google doodles the same way some bloggers anticipate traffic from Digg.

The connection hardly does any harm, though, and we’re all becoming better educated about Scottish and German architects in the process.

“We’re inviting all Australian schools to participate in the initiative, open to students from Years 1 to 10,” announced Ashley Gorringe on the Official Google Australia Blog.  Gorringe, who is a member of the Doodle 4 Google team, then continued, “An expert panel, including leading educational expert Michael Grose and art and culture expert, Dare Jennings, who cofounded Mambo Surfwear, will pick finalists from each state and territory.”

The goal of this contest is to find “the doodle that best represents Australia and what it means to be Australian.”  And although I don’t honestly expect that many WebProNews readers are eligible to enter this competition, some of you may have kids that are.  Get them to participate, if you can – there’s that Macbook Pro at stake, and the winning child’s school will get $10,000 worth of equipment.

As a result, Australian schools appear to be taking the contest very seriously.  “Google said it had already signed up hundreds of schools, both private and public,” according to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Asher Moses, and “Meg Lomm, visual arts coordinator at SCECGS, said she would most likely set aside time for students to work on the project in class.”

I don’t think Google Australia can go wrong here – it’s going to help a kid, a school, and itself (given all the publicity it’s drummed up).  The winning doodle will go on display January 26th.

I know, I know – you’re lost.  I was, too, and if you’re like me, you’ll occasionally see Google doodles – those little manipulations of Google’s name – and not know what they stand for.  This is especially likely to occur if you’re visiting Google’s home pages for other countries.  But those doodles provide a good way of finding out what those countries – and Google – value.

In this case, everyone is interested in “an annual celebration of the continuation of Australia’s ancient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the contribution made by Indigenous people to Australia,” according to what Julian Sonego, a Consumer Marketing Manager, and Rob Shilkin, the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, wrote on the Official Google Australia Blog.

The two then explain an apparent contradiction in NAIDOC Week’s name, adding, “Historically, there was only the one day of celebration.  Now a whole week is set aside to celebrate our Indigenous cultures.”

To find out what other sorts of things Google has been commemorating, you can look at this corporate catalog of Google doodles – it spans all the way back to 1999.