Snow in the old city of Jerusalem.
Photo: Michael Latar
Heavy winter storm begins to dissipate
After snowfall in Golan Heights, upper Galilee, Jerusalem and Be'er Sheva, snow storm begins to pass but not before Israelis were able to enjoy the snow.
The winter storm that led to snowfall in the Golan Heights, the upper Galilee, Jerusalem and even Be'er Sheva in the south began to subside Saturday, but not before Israeli families from across the country were able to flock to Jerusalem to fit in a snow ball fight and create snowmen.
Snow could still be seen on the ground in Jerusalem on Saturday, despite rising temperatures that had already begun the process of melting the snow.
Young boy enjoys snow in Kibbutz Yiftah. (Photo: Annat Zisovich)
While the height of the storm has passed, there was still a chance of snow in the upper northern region of Israel on Saturday, with rain forecasted to continue across the country until the afternoon. Possibility of flooding was also forecasted.
Snow at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel south of Jerusalem. (Photo: Aya Teufa)
Despite the rise in temperature, the weather will still be unseasonably cold on Saturday.
Family fun in Jerusalem
After roads leading to Jerusalem were reopened on Friday, families from around the country took advantage of the winter snow, which arrives in Israel only once or twice a year, and visitors continued to arrive in areas in central, and northern Israel were snow blanketed the ground.
Fun in the snow in Binyamin. (Photo: Amichai Dvir)
Substantial amounts of precipitation fell across the country during the latest storm, with a large amount, 40 mm, falling along the southern coastal plain, 30 mm in Jerusalem and 21.4 mm in Be'er Sheva.
Jerusalem covered in snow. (Photo: Michael Even-Tsur)
Unlike last year, images of stranded motorists in need of rescue were not replicated during this year's storm and it seemed that the heightened preparation and lessons learned from previous years proved themselves worthy during this year's snowy winter weather.
Power outages
Although utter chaos was avoided, several neighborhoods in Jerusalem were cut off from electricity during the storm for several hours, causing inconvenience and suffering for some residents.
Lightning strikes in Kiryat Ono. (Photo: Pini Natarovich)
According to the Israel Electric Corporation, the electricity was cut to a limited area, and was caused by abnormal usage before the Sabbath.
The electric corporation further said that power was restored to homes in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem gradually within five hours, while other neighborhoods disconnected from power were connected to an emergency generator as the glitch was more complex.
Lightning in Yehud. (Photo: Shmuel Goldberg)
One resident of the Ramat Sharat neighborhood in Jerusalem, Moshe, described his frustration with the electric corporation after being disconnected from power for six hours on Friday evening.
"Many neighborhoods in Jerusalem were left without electricity for hours and we did not know when power would come back. When we called the electricity company, we got a different answer every time. The last answer we received was that they had not managed to solve the problem and would bring an emergency generator. The question is why did they decide that then after so many hours? No lessons were learned from last year," said Moshe.
Roi Yanovsky and Ilana Curiel contributed to this report.
