Jerusalem Snow and More Snow and Black Ice

Snow in Jerusalem, Israel,

I waited for it to come,

and wow, did we ever get a lot of it!

Now I will try to explain how much snow there was 

and how crazy these last few days have been for so many of us.

What a mess it was when the white stuff started coming down.

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After a night of pouring rain,

it started snowing heavily around 7:00 am on Thursday.

By noon, 10 cm had accumulated, wreaking havoc with school and work schedules.

At midday, the sky cleared briefly, with a white covering on the ground,

image snow Jerusalem, Picture snow Knesset , photo snow Jerusalem

and I could see the Israeli flag was still flying over the Knesset building.

It then continued snowing most of the day,

Jerusalem snow photo, image Jerusalem snow

and by Friday, Jerusalem felt as if it was under siege.

In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, on “tenth of tenth month” of Tevet,

the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem. 

The fast day took on new significance this year.

Jokes were going around, but for many, it was not so funny.

picture Jerusalem snow, image Jerusalem snow

Each day we were buried under new and increasing piles of snow.

image Jerusalem snow, picture snow Jerusalem

Five days after the storm began,

our small side street was finally plowed.

Jerusalem image snow, picture Jerusalem snow, Israel under snow picture

Sometimes the snow let up,

image Jerusalem snow, photo snow in Jerusalem, picture Jerusalem snow storm

leaving Jerusalem looking a bit like Switzerland,

but if you look, those are the roofs of Nahlaot in background,

 covered in white with no red tiles showing.

image Jerusalem snow clean up, photo jerusalem snow , picture snow in Jerusalem

Cleaning snow off cars with squeegees seemed like a good idea,

even if you could not get anywhere.

We left a good snow shovel in Maryland when we sold our house,

who could imagine needing it in Israel?

image Jerusalem snow , photo people walking in snow . picture damage Jerusalem snow

Friday there was no heat for thousands because of power outages, 

so it was warmer outside in the sunshine than inside.

Fallen branches blocking side walks were a common sight.

image Jerusalem snow, storm in Jerusalem photo, image street snow, picture snow Israel

Major intersections were plowed, I thought these piles of dirty snow

looked more like Boston than Jerusalem.

image Jerusalem street in snow storm, photo Jerusalem snow. picture plow in Jerusalem

Real snow plow or not, this was the only one

I actually saw moving the stuff covering the road.

See that sign on the right?

This was to have been a weekend with special hotel deals for tourists.

I doubt many made it with the roads into Jerusalem

 shut down for most of day.

image snow Jerusalem, picture jerusalem snow

There were more people out on these streets when they

were shut down for Obama’s speech last summer.

image Jerusalem snow, picture snow Jerusalem, photo people in snow,

This woman with small children was out early,

image snow in Jerusalem ,photo Jerusalem snow

but not many others ventured out into the winter wonderland.

image snow jerusalem, picture jerusalem snow park, photo sacher park in snow

Usually popular when it snows, Gan Sacher, Sacher Park was empty,

iamge Jerusalem snow, picture snow Jerusalem, photo people in snow Jerusalem

  the folks with big dogs were the first ones in the park.

image Jerusalem snow, picture Jerusalem in snow, steps snow photo jerusalem

Each day I had to clean the steps of new accumulations.

image cold room, Jerusalem snow phoot, image power out

When the room temperature became less than the temperature in the fridge,

I moved the thermometer inside to check on the food.

Fortunately we have gas to cook with,

since our power was off for four days.

It was a very quiet Shabat.

image jerusalem snow, photo damage jerusalem snow, pic snow storm

So now the snow has stopped, and it is time to get out from under.

image Jerusalem snow, photo Jerusalem snow, picture snow Israel

People began to get together to dig out their cars.

image Jerusalem snow, photo snow in Jerusalem, picture snow Israel

It was time to walk to the store and buy some milk, eggs and bread.

Then on the fifth day of the siege after the snow stopped,

black-ice covered the Jerusalem streets in the morning,

with people falling and cars skidding.

At least there are plans being made for some schools to open tomorrow,

perhaps with late openings.

#IsraelUnderSnow

#JerusalemUnderSiege

#shelegeddon

#SnowinIsrael

or whatever you want to call it.

I wanted a lot of snow for viral photo material,

but forgot to ask for electric power and working computer.

So watch what you ask for, no matter how crazy it may be,

like half a meter of snow in Jerusalem, it just could happen.

More Jerusalem snow photos   HERE

Oops, better push ‘publish’ fast, some of our power just went out….again.

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