Winter Weather

People warned us that Jerusalem actually does get some winter weather, but we figured that at least for most of the time, layering raincoats on top of sweatshirts on top of long-sleeved t-shirts, maybe with a scarf and knit stretchy gloves, would be sufficient. And we were right. After all, I get emails or notes from my kids' teachers telling me my kids shouldn't wear sandals when it's 60 degrees outside because they will catch cold. (I tried to explain that these kids were born in Chicago and now live on the Wasatch Front, but it makes no difference. They really believe it's cold here!)

So I was genuinely surprised when on January 5th we began a week-long winter storm. The first few days were driving rain and high winds, and it rained enough that on one day alone, the Sea of Galilee rose 22 cm. That same day they had to shut down the largest highway through Tel Aviv because of flooding. Here's a very short video clip taken from our patio door, but imagine this all day and night, for three straight days!

The extensive rain is unusual around here, and since all the buildings are constructed from porous limestone, this much rain means a lot of flooding and leaking. Every room in the Jerusalem Center either had wet walls or dripping ceilings. But the fun part was the rolling blackouts every evening, gratefully not when I was cooking dinner, just when we were trying to eat it. That meant a lot of candlelit dinners, which are actually one of our family traditions from the time we lived in Denmark, and that made the blackout problem fun for the kids instead of frustrating.

By the morning of the 9th, the rain was changing to decent-sized hail every couple hours, which would melt quickly then build up again:

The forecast said there was a snowstorm on the way, expected to drop 4-6 inches on Jerusalem. As luck would have it, that was of course the same day the faculty had to drive to Tel Aviv to pick up the new batch of BYU students, and Ed was convinced they'd all be sleeping in the airport that night. Luckily, the snow held off until after they arrived and were able to drive to Jerusalem. There was actually a lull in the weather that afternoon, and I got some amazing views of the changing sunlight over the city:

 And then we woke up to six beautiful inches of snow. The kids didn't have very much gear suitable for such wet and cold weather, but they made do for a couple hours, until it all had melted away.

Here's the video Mary made to remember it all. (The actors in the video are Amanda and Lisa Judd.)