From mid November to early March we often find ourselves saying "It has warmed up to freezing"... our daily high temperatures usually does not pass that mark until the middle of March when winter releases it's grip and the ice would stay save for the use of de-icers that are used on the roads.

Our sunny winter skies are also attributed to the fact that is is often too cold for clouds to form and when it gets really cold it is a sky of endless blue... and without precipitation or fog the ice still forms on the roads.

Black ice is a real phenomenon and not some myth although half of the people in North America will probably never experience it... some interesting stats are that the stopping distance on ice is 9 times that of dry pavement and the warmer and and closer to freezing, the more slippery ice gets. We need to get into analyzing ice at a molecular level to figure that out.

tj - Minneapolis and Edmonton have very similar winter climates and challenges... we know that black ice really isn't black but crystal clear, how and when it forms, and how to deal with it or when to expect it more.

Last night the temperature dropped to -18C and I knew what to expect on my morning drive... the intersections are sanded and traction is improved but that zone behind the busiest intersections gets as slippery as a road can get (if you are driving).

This is where cars wait in a cloud of condensing exhaust.