Israel receives welcomed weekend rain

Meteorologists predict weekend rains would continue overnight on Saturday & hopefully into Sunday, coming to an end by the afternoon.

 


The country experienced a welcome hiatus from the dry winter on Friday night and once again during the day on Saturday.

Pedestrians in rain - Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

Pedestrians in rain – Photo: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post

The North received the most precipitation as of Saturday night, with 108 millimeters accumulating in Rosh Hanikra from Friday night through Saturday at about 8 p.m., on-duty weather forecasters at the Israel Meteorological Service told The Jerusalem Post.

Haifa received about 20 millimeters during that period, while Tel Aviv got approximately 16 millimeters. Jerusalem and Ashdod received only 2 millimeters, respectively, while Arad accumulated 1 millimeter, and very small quantities fell in the rest of the northern Negev, the IMS said.

Forecasters predicted that the rains would continue overnight on Saturday and into Sunday, tapering off by the afternoon.

Although large quantities of water drenched the North this weekend, the Water Authority stressed that this does not make up for the two previous months without precipitation.

Although about 10 millimeters fell on Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), the basin’s water level only rose about half a centimeter as a result, the Water Authority said. Most of the rain in the area were absorbed in the dry – and therefore thirsty – ground, the authority added.

This follows a January in which the basin only rose 11 centimeters, in comparison to January 2013 in which it rose 1.1 meters. The Kinneret water level currently stands at 211.155 meters below sea level.

“The precipitation deficit on a national level continues to be very significant,” the authority said.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Enviro-Tech/Israel-receives-rain-respite-over-weekend-341522