Between 1645 and 1715, Europe experienced what many call a "Little Ice Age." The climate was overall cooler, which reduced to a degree the food production in the area. But the overall cooling was magnified by the effects of a volcano which caused the coldest winter in recorded history.
The first signs of an unusual winter came in mid-October 1708 with an early and severe frost that found many people unprepared for the cold and without sufficient firewood prepared to heat their homes. The cold continued until mid-November, when a warm spell hit. It would be the calm before the storm, or the last warm weather the area would see for more than four months.
In early December, cold air dropping from the north lowered the temperature in Vienna and Zurich to -10 degrees. The cold reached southern France where it became so cold that it froze the wine in the cellars. The weather warmed a bit around Christmas, but the relief would be temporary. Another arctic blast began lowering the temperature. By January 10, 1709, the temperature reached -30 degrees in Berlin, while -18 was recorded in Paris the following day. The snow that fell was unusual--so cold that the normal star-shaped snowflakes were replaced with the column and plate formations typically only found at the poles or high in the air.
Normally-flowing waterways froze over and became clogged with ice. Rivers that normally flowed all winter, the Thames, Seine, Elbe, Danube, and Rhine, froze so hard that heavy carts and horses could pass over.
Firewood became scarce--workers risked their lives to go in search of wood. What wood they found was insufficient to keep warm, for "firewood would not burn in open air!" It was so cold, inside and with what fire they could build, that water would freeze on the table, and what bread was left became frozen blocks that had to be broken with a hatchet. The cold was so bad that people lost fingers, toes, and noses. "...birds on the wing fell dead; and it is said saliva congealed in its fall from the mouth to the ground." In places, entire families froze to death sitting in their homes.
It wasn't until the end of March that the world seemed to start to thaw. But the winter was so severe that the thaw came much later than normal--the Baltic sea was passable on foot until April, while ice kept the ships in Danzig in port until May. The warming weather led to another problem--floods. Great masses of water and ice shot through villages, damaging houses and ships, and injuring both cattle and people.
But the effects of the winter of 1708-1709 weren't over. Trees and vines had become so cold that they froze to death. The depleted food supply during the winter became worse as crops were late to be planted. In places people were so hungry that they couldn't wait for harvest--they would graze in the fields much like sheep.
It's impossible to know the extremes experienced that winter in the area of Adelshofen, but the entire continent suffered extreme cold followed by flooding and famine.
Notes: