Sorry, but I have to say it. This Carmel storm, what was expected to be the storm of the century, or maybe the storm of the year, has been nothing but a dud. Just some regular winter weather -  a little bit of cold and wind, a couple days of sporadic rains, and that's about it. 

Due to plummeting temperatures expected in many places around Israel to reach freezing or near freezing levels during the coming nights, the water authority is recommending people leave a faucet dripping overnight to prevent pipes and water tanks from freezing.

The annual calendar in Israel with all the halachic zmanim and significant Jewish dates has an interesting note for this week.


The note, quoting the sefer "Elya Rabba", written about 260 years ago, says that whenever Rosh Chodesh Shevat comes out on a Wednesday, as it does this year (this week), that winter will bring a strong cold front and heavy snowfall. The sign for this is the acronym of "Vayigash" - ויגש - which stands for Yom Vav Gimmel Shvat, or Vav Yehiyeh Gimmel Shevat, or Sheleg Gadol Yehiyeh V'Kor. This is tried and tested.

(as an aside, the lower note in the picture above is also interesting. In it he writes that during Shevat one should try to chase peace more and make peace between friends, between spouses, even more than during the rest of the year. One should support those learning Torah and strengthen the weak, avoid speaking gossip of others and avoid running to bad things more carefully than during the rest of the year. The note does not say why).

Back to the top note. The note says it has been found to be true. I find it interesting because this week we will celebrate Rosh Chodesh Shevat on Wednesday, and the meteorologists are predicting a particularly stormy weekend in Israel beginning on Thursday night. They are saying we will have another storm of heavy rains with snowfall in the mountainous regions (including Jerusalem hilltops), with strong winds and unusually cold temperatures.

I guess we will find out for sure on Friday, but the timing is excellent.

לפי תחזית שנכתבה לפני הרבה מאד שנים, צפוי לנו חורף גשום וקר, וגם מושלג. pic.twitter.com/i7OOmAd9L7

— בני רבינוביץ (@benirabin) October 30, 2017

The extreme temperatures (on the heat side) of the past few days has instigated the creation of a new gmach (though it has been seen before.elsewhere).

In Bnei Braq someone started a "cold water gmach" and put out on the street a number of bottles of cold water and cups, for use by the overheated public.


source: Kikar

It is only 3 bottles, but the person behind it probably goes out and refills them every now and then.

As I mentioned, such gmachs have been seen before. In RBS, there is someone who puts out a cooler of water for the public during the hot summer Shabbos days. I am confident that this happens in other places as well.

Entirely new or not, it is a big chessed and very thoughtful of the person behind it.

Keep cool, and drink a lot

as seen in Tel Aviv-Yaffo..

Toto, I've a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore.. uh, maybe we are...

There are so many great weather-related pictures posted all around the Internet today that it is hard to choose a picture of the day.. The standard pictures of snow and flooding and rainbows are great and beautiful, but here are a few that are not just standard...

the electricity was out because of the weather in Kiryat Gat, but that did not stop the boys from learning...








the doorman..



rainbow right over City Hall of Bet Shemesh? are there or are there not homosexuals in Bet Shemesh?









other random shots from around..


are the birds enjoying?


not Shabbos just yet, but it will probably still be snowy then as well..














R' Snowvadia

There was not much news today, besides for the weather and the flooding.

The quote Danny Hershtal, "My blessing to Israel: May you now and forever have weather as the leading news story"..

Amen!

The unusual stretch of hot weather we have experienced through this past summer has wreaked havoc on the waters of Israel.

However, if you think the worst hit of the victims of the heat was the Kinneret, you've got another think coming. We might not have enough water to drink, do laundry and bathe in, but the drought causing a hummus shortage is the real disaster right now.

As always, a shortage in supply means a price hike. Will this crisis change eating habits in the Middle East?

Why is it that when we get three days in the winter that are very cold everybody starts scoffing at Al Gore and the idea of Global Warming, yet when we have 4 months of unrelenting heat waves, even into October, nobody says, "yeah maybe there is something to Global Warming"..???

According to the newspaper today, June has been officially recorded as the hottest month. Ever. In the whole world.

It sure felt like it.

After the amazingly warm and beautiful weather we have been having over the past two weeks, starting today the forecast is expecting the next four days to be cool and rainy weather.

I don't know if the curse of Purim is true or not, but it sure feels like it. Year after year, no matter what the weather is leading up to Purim, Purim time is always cooler and rainier.

Forecasters are predicting snow on Thursday, in Jerusalem! I hope they are right. The rare snowfall is always appreciated in Israel....


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The weather we have been having has been totally insane. This shabbos was unusually warm, but extremely overcast. the air was full of dust. It drizzled a bit, but it mostly felt like the sky was sweating and some drops of perspiration fell out of it.

Even more so was the strong winds that prevailed for much of shabbos. They were so strong they even blew the [aluminum] roof off of a school building/caravan. I guess it was fitting for the parsha that discusses a strong wind blowing all night in preparation for the Kriyas Yam Suf..

wow. I dont remember it being this cold in a long time.....

Purim is a cursed day, supposedly. Supposedly, Purim has been cursed, in Israel, to have bad weather - cool, rainy, etc. The purpose of the curse is to avoid people dressing in untzniusdikke styles and costumes.

Personally I have heard the curse as having been wrought by the Hazon Ish, the Steipler, Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and the Brisker Rav. Maybe others have heard other names as the source of the curse.

I have also heard the curse on Purim in general, Purim in Jerusalem, and Purim in Bnei Brak.

It could be that the curse, if it really exists, is the reason for the crazy weather we are about to have. We just went from stormy to nice. By shabbos it is going to get into heat wave weather with temperatures as high as 28-30 (mid 80's). By Monday-Tuesday - Purim - the forecasters are predicting rain again with cooler temperatures...



Side point: does anyone have credible information on the origin and specifics of the curse?

We are in for an exciting and stormy shabbos... in Jerusalem (and other places) they are even expecting some snow!


(image taken from Israel Weather)

Sukkos is bearing down upon us almost as fast as a hurricane can hit the southeastern coast of the United States.

And speaking of hurricanes, the meteorologists are expecting some nasty weather over the holiday, though not exactly hurricane quality.

Here is the forecast for the first day of the holiday. Rain expected all around Israel. Depending on the weather site you look at, you will see different expectations as to how long the rainy weather will last - anywhere from 2 days until through shabbos chol hamoed.


Rain over sukkos in Israel is very unusual. It happens to be that this year, sukkos falls out fairly late in the "season", so normally these rains would be post-sukkos, but this year they are during sukkos.

The thing is that it creates a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, nobody enjoys rain during sukkos. it messes up sitting, eating and sleeping in the sukka. It messes up travel plans. it messes up the general enjoyment of the holiday. Along with the fact that the gemara considers rain during sukkos to be a curse, because it is as if Hashem is saying even though you are trying to do a mitzvah, He is not interested and He throws us out of the sukkah by sending rain.

On the other hand, we have such a serious shortage of rain (didn't the experts say we would not make it through the summer? what happened with that?) and water that every extra drop is really a blessing!

The real problem is that because it is such a rare event, most people are probably not familiar with the laws of how to deal with rain during sukkos, such as when you can eat indoors, when you have to stick it out and wait for the rain to stop or even eat in the rain, etc. It is time to review these laws that have not applied here in a very long time!

A few flakes of snow began falling in RBS a few moments ago! The kids are hoping school will be canceled. That reminds me of this picture someone sent to me yesterday...

This picture was captioned - 20 centimeters of snow fell! School is canceled!