Black ice, sometimes called clear ice, refers to a thin coating of glazed ice on a surface.
While not truly black, it is virtually transparent, allowing black asphalt/macadam roadways to be seen through it, hence the term "black ice". The typically low levels of noticeable ice pellets, snow, or sleet surrounding black ice means that areas of the ice are often practically invisible to drivers and thereby do not serve as a good indicator that they should reduce their speeds.
Similar thin invisible layers of ice that form along ships can cause them to become unbalanced. In the mountains, black ice is referred to as verglas (glaze ice) and is a great hazard for climbers.
Read more about Black Ice: On Roads and Pavements, Bridges, Ice Formation On Seagoing Vessels, Mountains
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or ice:
“Black girl black girl
lips as curved as cherries
full as grape bunches
sweet as blackberries”
—Dudley Randall (b. 1914)
“A young person is a person with nothing to learn
One who already knows that ice does not chill and fire does not burn . . .
It knows it can spend six hours in the sun on its first
day at the beach without ending up a skinless beet,
And it knows it can walk barefoot through the barn
without running a nail in its feet. . . .
Meanwhile psychologists grow rich
Writing that the young are ones’ should not
undermine the self-confidence of which.”
—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)