Seasonally comfortable temperatures and a forecast for near-average rainfall this winter will escort Israelis to synagogue Thursday night when they start to add a request for rain to daily prayers.
Jews throughout the world start adding a prayer for rain after the holiday of Succot. The additional prayer is added two weeks laterin Israel and on December 4 outside of the country.
This winter will bring average or slightly below average rainfall, according to private weather forecaster Boaz Dayan. He expects that most precipitation will be above average in November and March and below average for most of the other winter months.
However, January is expected to be colder than usual, and snow is probable in the north.
The Kinneret, a prime source of the country’s drinking water, was filled to the brim last winter when above average rains threatened to flood the adjacent city of Tiberias. Water authorities pumped water to cities in the south, which for years have depended on local underground sources for water.
Israel in recent years has built several reservoirs countrywide, enabling them to store more water during the long and rainless summer.
An average rainfall probably will fill the Kinneret to its upper limits again. Dayan reports that the Kinneret now is 1.74 meters under the flood level.
The official weather bureau forecast for the winter will not be issued until the beginning of November.
Jews throughout the world start adding a prayer for rain after the holiday of Succot. The additional prayer is added two weeks laterin Israel and on December 4 outside of the country.
This winter will bring average or slightly below average rainfall, according to private weather forecaster Boaz Dayan. He expects that most precipitation will be above average in November and March and below average for most of the other winter months.
However, January is expected to be colder than usual, and snow is probable in the north.
The Kinneret, a prime source of the country’s drinking water, was filled to the brim last winter when above average rains threatened to flood the adjacent city of Tiberias. Water authorities pumped water to cities in the south, which for years have depended on local underground sources for water.
Israel in recent years has built several reservoirs countrywide, enabling them to store more water during the long and rainless summer.
An average rainfall probably will fill the Kinneret to its upper limits again. Dayan reports that the Kinneret now is 1.74 meters under the flood level.
The official weather bureau forecast for the winter will not be issued until the beginning of November.