Storm beginning to let up after 30 hours
Snowfall stops on the Golan Heights, while some roads in northern Israel reopen after having been cleared, but fear of ice-covered roads lead authorities to call on drivers to only take to the road if absolutely necessary.
After 30 hours, the winter storm began to let up on Thursday morning, as snowfall in the northern Golan Heights subsided.
In certain areas, another meter of snow piled up on the ground before that, while in others, only 50-60 cm. Students didn't go to school on Thursday and some adults in the northern communities of the Golan Heights Regional Council also chose to stay indoors.
In the early Thursday afternoon hours, snow was cleared from roads between communities, but police and the regional councils have asked residents and visitors to only travel when absolutely necessary - both due to concern of the dangerous ice-covered roads and concern visitors will pull over on the margins to look at snow-covered hills on the side of the road, risking themselves and other drivers.
Despite requests by local authorities, visitors have already began pouring into the area - most of them residents of northern Israel looking to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Roads in Safed and Marom Golan, that experienced less snow, have already been reopened, but communities in the Upper Galilee are still worried of the cold expected on Thursday night.
School was back in session in Jerusalem on Thursday, but some primary schools in the Rehavia neighborhood were nearly empty, after parents decided not to send their children to school because of the slippery roads.
Kinneret water level rises 7 cm
The winter storm was not as strong in magnitude as initially forecasted - Jerusalem only saw 5 cm of snow - but the Sea of Galilee has risen 7 cm since Saturday due to the pouring rain, bringing it to -212.77 meters.
The Water Authority reported the water level at the Kinneret rose 3 cm in the last 24 hours and that the Jordan River broke its own record of water flow, which reached 40 cubic meters a second.
Elsewhere in the country, the overnight rain led to record water flows in smaller streams as well - Ayalon Stream saw a 104 cubic meter a second water flow.
Six Israelis were hospitalized in northern Israel on Thursday – they suffered from hypothermia and cold burns. At the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, two 90-year-old senior citizens and a 20-year-old man who fell and lay in the cold were treated for low body temperature.
In addition, two 70-year-old women who suffered from hypothermia were hospitalized at the Medical Center of the Galilee, as well as a 40-year-old woman who had cold burn wounds after water flooded her home.
Transportation routes in Jerusalem that were closed during the storm were reopened to traffic on Thursday morning. The Jerusalem light rail also resumed its scheduled operation.
Jerusalem public buses returned to operate in their scheduled routes along with buses traveling to and from Jerusalem. The bus route between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea remained closed Thursday morning as Route 90 was still closed off to traffic.
Throughout the night, City Pass kept its trains running in order to keep the tracks clear of snow.
Hospitals in the capital returned to normal operations, including the opening of outpatient clinics and one-day hospitalizations. The public was asked to drive carefully to hospitals.
The stormy weather and cold did not prevent the residents of Jerusalem, however, from enjoying the snowy weather into the early hours of the morning. Hundreds of young Israelis even organized a party at Jerusalem's Sacher Park in order to celebrate the snow.
Snow fell in all of the high peaks of the northern mountains. The northern Golan Heights area was closed for traffic because of the storm, with snow measuring a meter high piling up on the ground, while the northern neighborhoods of Safed saw 15 cm of snow.
Since the beginning of the storm, up to 1.1 meters of snow piled up at the Hermon ski site. The northern Golan Heights saw 40 cm of snow, Meron Mountain saw 20 cm, 15 cm in Safed, 10 cm in Hebron and only 5 cm in Jerusalem.
As for rain - on Wednesday, Safed had 72 mm of rain, Acre had 61 mm, 55 mm of rain were noted in Haifa and Rishon LeZion, 48 mm in the Golan Heights, 46 mm in the Hula Valley, 41 mm in Nahalal, 37 mm in Tel Aviv, 32 mm in Jerusalem, 29 mm in Ashdod, 28 mm in the Kinneret, 20 mm in Netanya, 19 mm in Kiryat Gat, 8 mm in Ofakim and 5mm in Arad.
The Education Ministry decided to cancel school in several communities in the north, in the Samaria region of the West Bank and around Jerusalem. In the capital, school will start at 10am.
