It is the first time snow has fallen twice in November since the early 1950s, when Israel started recording weather statistics.
More than five inches of rain fell in the north during the weekend storm, the second in seven days, with much of it spilling into Lake Kinneret, Israel's largest water reservoir.
The lake, also known as the Sea of Galilee, will likely fill up by the end of the winter, according to Water Commission officials. The lake has started to rise, after the usual summer evaporation and dry season lowered its level to more than two meters under the optimal level of 208.8 meters below sea level. The Kinneret now stands at 1.99 meters below this level.
Each centimeter of Kinneret height means another 1.7 million cubic meters of water. If it reaches the maximum level, authorities must open the dams in order to prevent flooding in Tiberias and Ein Gev.
The lake stood at the end of this summer more than one meter higher than last year at the same time, thanks to heavy rains last winter. "If we have a winter identical or similar to the last one," Pinchas Green, director of the Kinneret administration, says, "the dams will have to be opened." This option is not a desirable one, as it leads to the loss of much water, and other alternatives are pursued when possible.