I don't know what to make of this

During the heavy snow today, Aisling stuck out her tongue to catch a falling flake in the approved Charlie-Brown-Christmas manner (you know what they say about those January snowflakes) and promptly choked, coughing and gasping and staggering around the yard.

I just don't know what to think. She says she choked on the snowflake. But...how? How can you choke on something that would probably melt the second it touched your warm tongue? Or are they making snowflakes out of composted leaves these days?

Laws-a-mercy, as my great-grandma would have said.