Szklanka

Eddie left home this morning at ten to seven to catch his bus to school. Three minutes later he phoned home to warn us all that the road outside the house was so slippery that he'd fallen over - painfully. The thaw was on its way. By this morning, the temperature was above zero, and the rain had been falling all night long. But the ground was still frozen after a week where temperatures averaged -3C. The result - one huge skating rink. The car radio warned repeadedly of szklanka (literally, 'a glass'); gołoledź (black ice). Today it was bad - very, very bad.

Left: ul. Górnosląska, half past eight. The pavement and the roadway were utterly treacherous. The only way down this road (a steep slope down the Vistula escarpment) was to slide one foot in front of the other, then gingerly to bring the other foot forward, as though one were on 30cm long skis. This method is illustrated by the man in the photo. I followed his example to descend Górnosląska, thus avoiding a painful tumble.

Below: Lunchtime - the temperature had soared to +6C (!). The meltdown was happening on a rapid scale. The szklanka had mostly melted (though by no means everywhere!). Pavements were drying out; here we see ice and meltwater between Górnośląska and Koźmińska. By evening it was still slippery enough to require great care on the pavements.


Right: the huge snow piles between the car parking bays and the pavement are melting. From out of the snow emerge broken bits of plastic spoiler, attached to the underside of cars' front bumpers. Our Yaris's spoiler became detached a few weeks ago as I drove over an icy mound in the middle of ul Trombity. I could neither re-attach it nor remove it; Toyota charged 120 złotys for fixing it. On Poland's roads, cars need higher ground clearance and tacky plastic bolt-ons like front spoilers are quite unnecessary.

This time last year:
Most Poniatowski in winter

This time three years ago:
Warsaw well prepared for snow