Glatteis

What is called black ice in English is what we call smooth ice.

In Freiburg, we had permafrost for about a week, and last night, warm, humid air entered Germany‘s southwest through the Burgundian Gate (Burgundische Pforte). There, it met cold air, so it started to rain during the night. The rain fell on frozen ground and immediately formed black ice.

This morning, the almost empty Minster market was quite unusual (©Anne Grunenberg)

Although the authorities saw this coming and were prepared, not all streets and sidewalks could be salted in time, which is bad for the environment.

  

As usual, Red Baron had breakfast early and was supposed to do his muscle training at Kieser‘s on a Wednesday.

When I looked out of the window, there was absolute silence. Neither a car nor a pedestrian passed by for a quarter of an hour.

While temperatures were 3°C (37 F), they were supposed to climb up to 12°C (54 F) during the day. So Red Baron had another pot of coffee and relaxed until weather conditions allowed him to step out in the street. Kieser would have to wait.

I eventually went downtown after lunch. With sudden double-digit plus temperatures, all snow and ice had disappeared.

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