Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., February 19, 2008 Adar1 13, 5768 | | Israel Time: 19:03 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

A Jerusalem resident walking through the snowfall that blanketed the capital Tuesday morning. (Tess Scheflan / Jini) Last update - 10:14 19/02/2008 Snowstorm blankets Golan, Jerusalem area for third time this year By Eli Ashkenazi and Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service Tags: snow, cold, israel, weather A snow storm blanketed the Golan Heights and the Jerusalem area early Tuesday morning, with some 75 centimeters of accumulation reported on the lower slopes of Mt. Hermon. Snow ploughs are currently working to clear streets in the capital, but the Jerusalem Municipality's emergency response center said there were no reports of serious problems. Mt. Hermon will be closed to visitors due to the heavy snowfall. Forecasters said the snowfall, which began at around 4 A.M. in Jerusalem, was likely to stop by the afternoon, adding that Tuesday's storm was likely to lead to less accumulation than the previous snowfall in January. This is the third time this year that snow has fallen in the capital. Advertisement Jerusalem schools declared a late start, with classes delayed until 9 A.M., while numerous school districts in the surrounding area, including Gush Etzion, Mevasseret Tzion, and Hebron canceled school for the day. Schools are also closed in the northern Golan Heights. Classes at Hebrew University of Jerusalem will begin at noon. The storm also brought wet weather to other areas of the country, with heavy rainfall reported in the northern Galilee. Coldest January in 15 years falls short of being Israel's harshest winter Despite the current storm, this is not the harshest winter Israel has experienced in recent years, weather forecasters and climatologists agree. But according to Nahum Malik of the Meteotech forecasting service, while three snowfalls in Jerusalem "is not something especially common, something that happens every year, neither is it exceptional." Amos Porat of the Israel Metorological Service said that Jerusalem gets two snowfalls a year about every five years. In the winter of 2000-2001, he noted, the city had snow three times, and in 1999-2000, it had four snowy days. In 1991-1992, an especially harsh winter, the capital had 10 days of snow. Both Malik and Porat attributed the general feeling that this winter has been especially severe not to the precipitation, but to last month's unusual cold. In most parts of the country, this was the coldest January since 1992, and during the first of its two cold spells, in mid-month, temperatures in some parts of the country hit all-time lows, Porat said. January was also unusual for how many cold days in a row there were. Sde Boker, for instance, experienced six days in a row of temperatures below zero degrees Celsius the longest such stretch since 1964. "January was one to two degrees colder than average in many areas, and that's a lot," said Malik. "There has not been a January this cold in 15 years. But people's memories are fairly short, so they are justified in feeling that there was something exceptional here." In contrast, he said, February has thus far been a typical winter month. However, he added, "the current cold front might send us below the average." Climatologists say that extreme weather phenomena have multiplied due to global warming. However, it is impossible to tie any specific climatic event to global warming; only the larger pattern can be blamed on this development. On Tuesday morning, snow is expected throughout the north and center of the country in locations 600 meters or more above sea level, possibly even including the hills of the northern Negev. In lower areas, heavy rain will fall, and winds will be very strong. However, the storm is expected to abate in the afternoon Bookmark to del.icio.us   Artistic justice Israel Museum to exhibit art looted by Nazis and unclaimed. Let in snow For second time this winter, Jerusalem braces for snow.   1.   Snow is falling in Arabia also 03:56  |  PK 19/02/08   2.   For Peter Smith and JustMe 05:27  |  nunya 19/02/08   3.   Re. No. 1 Come in peace and----- 06:36  |  Dudka 19/02/08   4.   Some Bad News for Assad 09:53  |  Michael 19/02/08   5.   first response 10:03  |  george 19/02/08   6.   PK 10:53  |  Jeannot 19/02/08   7.   Stop your crying 11:14  |  Dror 19/02/08   8.   Enjoy and don`t eat any yellow snow. 11:55  |  Mark 19/02/08   9.   Coldest Winter 12:11  |  Dr. David Feigenbaum 19/02/08   10.   Snow is falling on Occupation 12:44  |  Minda 19/02/08   11.   Not the occupation 13:46  |  Jackie 19/02/08   12.   Minda - There is no Palestine but there is Israel.. Don`t get 13:54  |  mk 19/02/08   13.   Dror - You are the only one complaining. If don`t want a 13:56  |  mk 19/02/08   14.   Lazy reporting 14:19  |  zznhl 19/02/08   15.   Jackie:snow is not a result of occupation! 14:22  |  Minda 19/02/08   16.   Dror (#7), crawl back under the stone you came from 15:02  |  Sara 19/02/08

Today Online Livni: Halting peace talks with Palestinians will not end terror Responses: 115 Lebanon tense amid specter of fresh Israel-Hezbollah fighting Responses: 122 German intellectuals: Israel's creation made Palestinians victims of the Nazi Holocaust Responses: 158 Meron Benvenisti: The demographic bomb is 1-2 years away Responses: 50 Yoel Marcus: Better to keep tabs on terrorists than to kill them Responses: 31 Rosner's Domain Poll: Is it important to have an Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of 2008? Most blatant example of Israeli interference in American election Clinton's peace team: the attacks on Rob Malley "vicious" (WTR) The U.S. and Mughniyah / Not just 'who' but also 'where' The row over Obama's stance on Israel is a dispute between Jews More Headlines 13:58 Livni: Halting peace talks with PA will not end terror 17:42 Palestinians: 10-year-old Gaza boy killed in Hamas-IDF crossfire 16:58 IDF: Reinforcing private homes in Sderot is our last priority 18:52 BBC: Israeli general escaped war crimes arrest by U.K. in 2005 16:22 ANALYSIS: Sarkozy's Holocaust education plan baffles Jews 16:53 Egyptian officials meet with Hamas on Gaza-Egypt border security 18:07 Driver responsible for 3 deaths receives only 3-year prison term 14:47 Islamic Jihad, Palestinian rights groups at odds over deadly Gaza blast 14:01 Lawyer jailed for fraud in dealing with Jews' pensions in Germany 16:35 Pakistan's pro-Musharraf party concedes defeat in elections 15:21 Egypt police kill Sudanese migrant on Israel border 16:20 Widow suspected of faking cancer to receive donations Previous Editions Select Day 18 feb 17 feb 15 feb 14 feb 13 feb 12 feb 11 feb 10 feb 08 feb 07 feb 06 feb 05 feb

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