WEATHER: Who Makes The Wind Blow And Makes The Rain Fall…
Illustration: Lightning Strikes Near Ocean by Guilherme via Pexel [Free to Use Pexels License)
The Gemara asks: What blessing does one recite? Rav Yehuda said: The formula of the blessing is: We thank You for each and every drop that You have made fall for us.
The holidays are now past, and we're all looking forward to two+ months of "normalcy." What does that mean for us weather-wise?
It means that October will both feel and look like fall: the temperatures will head quite a bit downwards starting mid-week, and they could be preceded by thunderstorms. Moreover, as the cold weather filters in, there should be both rain showers and even periods of rain. The greatest likelihood of rain will occur from the center of the country to the north, but thunderstorms over the southern areas should not be ruled out, especially ahead of the cold air.
The chilly weather should last into early next week. At that time, there will likely be a short warming trend before colder air and another bout of rain threatens early in the new month.
The good news is that with the cooler weather, it will be okay to leave your butter on the counter — it won't get too soft (for those who refuse to turn on the heat until December). "Butter," you say? "What's that?" That is what you put on your bread, if you could actually buy it in the store. Not mentioned in this article is that Tnuva was sold to a Chinese company and from what I read the butter we used to buy from Tnuva is now buttering the bread (or wontons) in China.
My guess, though, is that most folks don't know that it's actually pretty easy to make butter. In fact, I made my own. One should probably take note that when the butter separates from what becomes buttermilk, the buttermilk will spray all over the place unless you cover the mixer or turn it off at just the right moment. Yet I wonder why we don't have butter to buy?
On a sadder note, a tragedy happened the other day. A family enjoying an outing at the beach was struck by lightning. As you can see on the lightning tracking system of Weather It Is, the cloud-to-ground and intracloud lightning (called Total Lightning) can be tracked as it approaches the beach. A quick look at the time suggests that there was about an hour's time before the lightning struck the beach where a warning could have been issued to seek safety. So, why wasn't a warning issued? One might as well just ask: "Where's the butter?”
Also hard for Israel’s government: Prime Minister Netanyahu turned over the mandate to form the next government, giving a chance to Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz. The Prime Minister tried to make a pact with more right wing and religious parties to stick together, or to sink or swim together. Why was our Prime Minister so unable to form a government with the other "centrist" party, Blue and White? … And why don’t we have any butter?
Things are clearer at home — or at least they were for a few days. My wife, along with other wives, went on strike before the last holiday. There were few parting words, except perhaps: "You do the cooking!" Of course, I was up to the task, since I love to be in the kitchen. The amazing thing was that the mess I usually make when my wife is in the kitchen was nowhere to be found. She's still looking for it.
Perhaps, then, it is only appropriate that this most recent holiday was the one on which I not only did the cooking, but I also accepted with solemn responsibility the task of making it rain this coming winter. Usually, this task is reserved for G-d to decide — for instance, how much and when rain will fall in the Land of Israel. However, a few weeks ago I decided to ask for and just received confirmation that I would be able to make these big decisions myself.
Strangely, it happened the same day I made my first batch of butter. So, where's the butter? It's on my toast.
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. Click here to read more of this writer’s work in The Jerusalem Herald.
