And the water turned to ice... On Tuesday morning, temperatures dropped enough in the capital (-3°C minimum) to transform the Canal Saint-Martin, which crosses the <>th and <>th arrondissements of Paris, into a gigantic ice rink. The first to seize it? A few ducks are well settled, their legs on the ice, whose frozen look gives the impression that they are as frozen as the water on which they are stationed.
At least that's the view given by a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a resident amused by the scene. The five palmipeds do not need to flap their wings to stand in the center of the canal.
Paris (canal Saint-Martin). This morning, frozen ducks. pic.twitter.com/gXuM3JMqFO
— Dominique Hasselmann 🇺🇦 °/° 〽️ (@dhasselmann) January 16, 2024
Two other publications show new ducks, whose reflection in the ice mingles with the yellow sunrise, becoming familiar with their new surroundings. The photos were taken at different points along the Canal Saint-Martin, which connects the Bassin de l'Arsenal (11th century) and ends its course in Jaurès, in the 19th arrondissement, where it flows into the Bassin de la Villette. These pictures show that the ice has taken up residence on several hundred meters of the expanse of water.
The ducks are skating on the frozen Canal Saint Martin this morning pic.twitter.com/YZr6DsskJo
— Vélo du Marais (@Velodumarais) January 16, 2024
This wintry episode of bitter cold occurs a few hours before the first snowflakes of the week fall in Paris. The Île-de-France region has indeed passed into orange alert snow and ice, this Tuesday, and a thin white film could cover the streets of the capital from 22 p.m.
It's so cold this morning that the Canal Saint-Martin is frozen 🥶 pic.twitter.com/klCXoYFUef
— Aude Blacher (@audeblacher) January 16, 2024
This snowfall could be the second in two weeks in the capital. At the beginning of January, the snow lasted a few hours, in thin layers, on the roofs and sidewalks of the Ile-de-France region.