several of my photos of the "snowmageddon" that hammered israel (and the region) in december 2013...

8/13/2019 Several of my photos of the "snowmageddon" that hammered Israel (and the region) in December 2013 are prominently featured in the latest (print) edition of Eretz magazin

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Above: Tzur Hadasa, Jerusalemmountains, December 2013 (RanZisovitch)

White Week


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Above: Old M60A tank turret, Golan Heights, December 20Zisovitch)Facing page: Safed, Israel Snowmageddon, 2013(Dave Bender. www.DavidBrianBender.com)

F rom December 10 to 14, 2013, following anunseasonable heat wave at the end of November,a heavy snowstorm struck the Middle East. In thewake of extreme synoptic conditions in the upperatmosphere, a stream of cold air from Russia andScandinavia reached the Eastern Mediterranean,causing unusually heavy rainfall and snow in south-ern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. Aflurry of snow flakes also was recorded in Cairo.Snow began to fall on December 12 and continuedfor four days. In Jerusalem, snow accumulated to aheight of 50 centimeters, south of Jerusalem in theHebron mountains, it reached 90 centimeters. Thestorm covered the Upper Galilee with over 50 cen-timeters of snow; in the higher parts of the Galilee,such as the Druze village of Beit Jann, snow piled

up to over a meter. On the slopes of Mount Hermon,the snow reached a height of nearly 1.5 meters.Snow also accumulated in parts of the countrylocated at lower levels, around 300-500 metersabove sea level.

The snow remained on the ground for over aweek; in some places in the Upper Galilee, patches

of snow still could be seen at the beginning ofJanuary. This was only the second time sinceresearchers began keeping records of snowfall inJerusalem in the nineteenth century that a snow-storm occurred in December. (The first was onDecember 28-29, 1879.) Even during the snowprone months of January and February, there havebeen very few snowstorms of this magnitude.

An extraordinary amount of rain accompaniedthe snow. The greatest amounts were measuredalong the southern coastal plain around the GazaStrip. The settlements around Gaza recorded 250-300 millimeters of rain. Rainfall along the coastalplain was twice, and at certain places even threetimes, the average for December. The Galilee, how-ever, received less rain.

Even though the powerful storm in Decemberand another bout of rain a week later produced largeamounts of rainfall, thus far, rainfall this winter hasbeen sparse and most of the large riverbeds in theGalilee, which usually are flowing with water bythis time, still are dry.

Adaia Korin


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Below: Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, December 2013 (Nausicaa GiuliaBianchi)


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Above: Safed, Israel Snowmageddon 2013 (Dave Bender. www.DavidBrianBender.com)


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Above and facing page: Safed, Israel Snowmageddon, 2013 (Dave Bender. www.DavidBrianBender.com)


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Above: Jerusalem,December 2013.(Nausicaa Giulia Bianchi)


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Below: Etzion Bloc(Gush Etzion FieldSchool)

several of my photos of the "snowmageddon" that hammered israel (and the region) in december 2013...

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