Weather forecasters had predicted snow in the capital beginning last night, but towards 5 AM, the Jerusalem Municipality announced the recall of its snow-clearing equipment and and end to the snow alert. Schools were open as usual.
In the Golan, snow continues to fall this morning, following the blizzard of last night. Schools in the southern Golan opened an hour late, and not at all in the more northern areas. IDF and Public Works Department snow-plows are clearing main roads. The access routes to the Mt. Hermon ski site are not passable, but the management knows that for every day the site is closed now, many more skiers will be happy to come next week.
When the snow melts, much of it will fill Lake Kinneret - but for now, the heavy precipitation is still not registering in Israel’s largest water reservoir. The lake, known as the Sea of Galilee, rose only one centimeter since yesterday, measuring at 211.14 meters below sea level. It has risen over two feet since the beginning of the rainy season, but still has another 8.7 feet (2.34 meters) to go to reach the optimal level.
The goal is far from unreachable. In the winter of 2002-3 (5763), for instance, the Kinneret rose by some 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) in the course of the winter, to within some 80 centimeters of the optimal height. Two years before that, however, it only rose by approximately 2.4 feet.
Each ten centimeters (4 inches) of Kinneret height mean another 17 million cubic meters of water, or roughly 2.5% of the country’s annual consumer demand.
The heavy rains and resulting flooding in the Negev caused at least one highway to be closed, near Ofakim.
In the Golan, snow continues to fall this morning, following the blizzard of last night. Schools in the southern Golan opened an hour late, and not at all in the more northern areas. IDF and Public Works Department snow-plows are clearing main roads. The access routes to the Mt. Hermon ski site are not passable, but the management knows that for every day the site is closed now, many more skiers will be happy to come next week.
When the snow melts, much of it will fill Lake Kinneret - but for now, the heavy precipitation is still not registering in Israel’s largest water reservoir. The lake, known as the Sea of Galilee, rose only one centimeter since yesterday, measuring at 211.14 meters below sea level. It has risen over two feet since the beginning of the rainy season, but still has another 8.7 feet (2.34 meters) to go to reach the optimal level.
The goal is far from unreachable. In the winter of 2002-3 (5763), for instance, the Kinneret rose by some 4.7 meters (15.4 feet) in the course of the winter, to within some 80 centimeters of the optimal height. Two years before that, however, it only rose by approximately 2.4 feet.
Each ten centimeters (4 inches) of Kinneret height mean another 17 million cubic meters of water, or roughly 2.5% of the country’s annual consumer demand.
The heavy rains and resulting flooding in the Negev caused at least one highway to be closed, near Ofakim.