Weather forecaster Benny Eran of Metotech said Thursday that Israelis should prepare for "a taste of fall" on Friday and Saturday. Temperatures will drop, and rain is expected to fall in the northern and central districts.
The rain will begin on Friday in the north, he said. By Friday night, it should reach the northern Negev. There may be thunderstorms as well. Temperatures will be lower than they have been recently, Eran said, but the weather will not be unseasonably cold.
Most of the rain will fall on Friday evening and overnight, he continued. By Saturday, the rain will move south, toward the Negev, and afternoon skies will begin clearing.
"This will be the first significant rain of the season, with cold air coming in from Europe," he predicted.
Jews around the world recited the first prayers for rain on Shemini Atzeret last week and began including in their daily silent prayers, called the "Amidah" or "Shmoneh Esreh", the reminder that the Creator "causes the winds to blow and the rains to fall." Next Shabbat, Israelis, whose rainy season starts in mid fall, begin adding the prayer "He gives dew and rain as a blessing" to the "Amidah", which is recited silently three times a day and repeated by the cantor in morning and afternoon services. Outside of Israel, where rains fall all year, Jews began reciting that prayer on December 4, the start of the winter solstice.
Israel is specifically mentioned in the Bible as a land where rainfall, as opposed to the situation in Egypt where the Nile River canals are the source of irrigation, depends on G-d's good will, which in turn is dependent on the Jewish people's actions and faith, thence the prayers.
It is too early to determine what the winter weather will be like this year, Eran said., although several forecasters' models already have warned it will be dry. "About the summer that we just experienced, I can definitely say that the summer months were very hot; it was one of the hottest summers to date," he added.
Eran warned his audience that the first rain can be extremely dangerous. Roads will be particularly slippery as oily residue from cars and trucks that has accumulated for months is washed away. In addition, some cities have not adequately cleared their drainage system for winter, meaning that heavy rain could cause flooding. Flash floods are not expected in the Negev but will probably occur in the Dead Sea area.