Building a snowman outside the Western Wall
Building a snowman outside the Western WallMendy Hechtman/Flash90

February 2015 went down as a month with better than average rainfall in almost all parts of Israel, the Meteorological Service said Sunday. With the snowfall last weekend and the major storm the week before that, this winter's rainfall totals are already higher than average in almost all parts of the country as well.

Mitzpe Harashim in northern Israel has gotten the most rain so far this winter, with 800 millimeters of precipitation, followed by Kibbutz Eilon in the western Galilee, with 716 mm. Of Israel's cities, Nahariya on the northern coast was wettest, with 642 mm, followed by Haifa with 621 mm, Tel Aviv with 591 mm, and Jerusalem with 572 mm.

Nahairya, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be'er Sheva have all exceeded their average annual rainfall, with several weeks of winter still to go. Despite being snowed in at least twice this winter, Tzefat is still a bit behind its average, at 88%, as is Kedumim in central Samaria. Eilat has so far received just 8 mm of rain, only 36% of the average annual 22 mm it usually gets.

February was the coldest month on average so far this winter, with the lowest temperatures recorded on the 20th of the month; in many of the countries mountainous regions, temperatures of below freezing were recorded such as -2.4c on Mount Canaan in northern Israel, -2.7c in Rosh Tzurim (Gush Etzion), and -1.3c in Jerusalem.