Weather: Pre-Purim Showers Bring Flowers
Purim Stream (Image Credit: Icrat Lynn)
The weather on Sunday was simply unpleasant. I took a picture of a bare tree in front of a slate grey sky with a hidden sun. I was standing in a strong wind, as wisps of fog and dust floated by. It really was depressing. I've decided to keep that picture to myself!
In fact, the winter -- in a sense -- has been a disappointment. It's the warmest winter that I can remember since I came here, and it is not what I bargained for when I decided to move here from the much colder northeastern United States. In fact, the first winter that I decided to stay had a rather large snow at the end of January (I measured 36 cm (14 in) on the roof of my cousin's home).
Okay, a lot of people don't like snow, and I am sure that they've been very happy with the rains we had and are having this season. We're actually close to normal for this time of year, which is just what we needed. Of course, that's normal relative to the past several decades, but quite above average if you look back compared to our recent string of dry winters.
There will be a chance of showers on Monday. Tuesday should see a greater chance of showers, but the middle of the week should turn warmer and drier on southwesterly winds. There should be perfect weather for the holiday of Purim.
The weather should continue to warm into next week, when another storm moving our way may bring more dust and then showers and a return to cooler weather. However, we're far from a chill, and much closer to a warm spring.
Jerusalem forecast (click here for updated national forecasts):
Image credit: The Jerusalem Herald
In that spirit, I've attached pictures from my daughter's trip to the Golan. The first shows water flowing in a stream (above) -- and based on our rainfall to date our springs and falls should be full of water again this summer. The second shows an early bloom to our hillsides, which we hope will be a harbinger of good things to come.
Dr. Lynn is a lecturer at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Earth Sciences Department. He is also CEO of Weather It Is, LTD, a company that specializes in reducing weather risk.
