This week was the first real snow storm Madison. We got 10 inches of snow over a thin sheet of ice. And me with no snow boots! (You don't really need them in New York) This weather reminded me of the story below:
Schneeglätte - a German term used to describe snow packed into ice on the road, most specifically the autobahn.
How do I know this, you may ask? Well, just a few short years ago I was lucky enough to spend the Christmas holiday in Germany with my family. On a snowy Christmas Eve, we made our way to Leipzig to see the famous Thomanerchor sing at St. Thomas Church. All of this was well and good, but I feel the most entertainment we derived from the trip came from a strange flashing sign that we saw on the way back. "Schneeglätte!" it proclaimed. What does this mean, I thought to myself, and asked my mother. After an explanation and pronunciation tutorial, we began to use the term almost indiscriminately. "Watch out for that schneeglätte!" "Look, there seems to be schneeglätte over there." This caused much amusement amongst my sister and me, and I would guess a touch more bemusement in my father who was driving on it at 140 kilometers per hour.
