Rain, Rain, come again today!
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, News
It’s one of the cruel ironies of the cosmos that now that the massive fire in the Carmel has finally been contained after four days, the skies have opened after months of dryness and there’s actually rain coming down.
Most people wouldn’t get excited over such a seemingly mundane natural occurrence, but for the rain-starved people of Israel, it’s a welcome sight indeed.
Dropping my son of this morning for his three-hour Hannuka nature hike as part of his weekly nature after school club, the guided and I greeted each other with “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” even though the overcast skies were spitting rain and the winds were threatening to pick up. No chance that this hike was going to be cancelled, short of a monsoon.
The forecast was for only light rain over the next couple days, but it’s an encouraging sign that more is on the way. Besides the scorched ground in the North, the rest of the country, including the depleted Kinneret, are in dire need of it.
Have a rainy day!
Dreaming of foliage
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life
We almost thought that fall was here. Last week, temperatures dipped into the 70s for the first time in months, and at night, there was nearly a feeling of a chill in the air.
There was even a day of heavy rain that announced the beginning of a healthy rainy season. People were taking out their long-sleeved shirts and bed spreads from the closets ready to place the days of 100 degree September heat deep in the recesses of their memory until next summer.
But here we are again, experiencing 90 degree plus temperatures in mid-October, as we suffer through yet another in a seemingly endless chain of oppressive heat waves.
According to the forecasters, it’s going to last for a few days, so instead of dreaming about heading to the Hermon in the next couple months for some skiing action, we’ll be thinking about heading to the beach this weekend.
And people wonder why we can’t get anything going with the peace talks. We can’t even get our weather together!
Rain – a love/hate story
I really hate the rain. Oh, I know it’s good for us and the country desperately needs to refill its reservoirs. I just wish we could get all our rainfall at night, when I’m sleeping. Getting caught in a daytime downpour is one of my most dreaded activities. It’s cold, my glasses get pelted so I can barely see, and I’m always afraid that sloshing through puddles will ruin my shoes.
Now, my wife Jody and I are regular exercisers. Our main workout is running – we head to the streets 3-4 times a week, on several different circuits in southern Jerusalem. Our favorite is along the Sherover and Goldman Promenades, overlooking the Old City. We also run up to the Ramat Rachel kibbutz and back, and through the German Colony.
This morning, the skies looked ominous. It had been thundering all weekend, but at 9:00 AM, the ground was dry. We decided to chance it. Strapping on our iPods, we headed out on the closest route to home towards the Old Katamon neighborhood.
About five minutes into our run, we felt a few drops from above but not enough to turn back. I can deal with a light drizzle as long as it stops and starts. Which is exactly what it was doing. So far so good.
10 minutes into the run, the rain started coming down harder. We were in San Simon Park and ducked under a tree until the rain lightened up. Then we were off again.
As we turned back onto Kovshei Katamon Street, the skies opened up big time. There was a bus stop across the street. We dashed between oncoming vehicles where we took shelter to wait it out.
Only this time, the rain didn’t abate – it intensified. The streets began to fill up. It’s amazing how quickly water can come cascading down a slight hill in the midst of Israeli city. It was easy to imagine how a flash flood could appear out of nowhere.
As the gullies deepened, the splashes from nearby cars loomed closer. When a truck rumbled by, soaked us from head to toe. We knew it was time to head home…regardless of the downpour.
For the next five minutes, we sprinted through the streets as if wading in a freezing swimming pool. We were up to our ankles in a gray and brown Jerusalem liquid mix. Since I was running blind (the glasses thing, remember?), if there had been a pothole, I would have been a goner.
We made it home and our teenager daughter laid out large beach towels at the door to mop up our mess.
All I wanted at that point was a nice hot shower. I threw myself under the water, only to realize too late that there had not been enough sun that morning to power the solar heater and we had neglected to turn on the electric timer.
Sitting in the kitchen, sipping a cup of tea, Jody tried to lighten the mood, pushing a more optimistic agenda. After today, she said, it couldn’t possibly get any worse.
That’s when we heard the drip-drop of the rain again. We looked up. It was coming through the roof.
Did I mention I hate the rain?
Get your raincoats out, we’re in for a stormy winter
Well, I may not be a weatherman, or indeed be able to even read a satellite map for that matter, but still I think there’s a good chance that Israel is heading for a rainy winter. No, I didn’t put the seaweed out, and it has nothing to do with aches in assorted parts of my body. It’s because of el Nino.
I came across an article in the international press this morning about how el Nino, a natural meteorological cycle that happens every three to seven years when the Pacific Ocean warms, is making a reappearance this year. Experts are predicting wild weather over the next year, from floods in the US and South America, to droughts in Australia, Africa and Asia.
Interesting, I thought. But what does that mean for Israel? A quick Internet search revealed that in el Nino years, Israel gets more rainfall than usual. In fact, scientists at the Weizmann Institute and the Blaustein Institute for Desert Research had rather handily done a paper on it.
The 1996 study showed that there was a striking correlation between el Nino and above-average rainfall in central Israel over the previous 20 years. The winter of 1991/2, for instance, when Israel experienced the worst rainfall in a century, coincided with one of the most devastating el Nino’s in recent years.
Other years with heavy rainfall included 1997-8, 1986-7, and 1982-3 – all of them el Nino years. The scientists also discovered something else – in La Nina years – where the Pacific ocean cools rather than warms– Israel often experiences its driest years.
So far, this time around, experts are predicting a moderate el Nino, but they are warning that sea temperatures are still rising.
With Israel in possibly the most serious drought of its existence, and a water tax about to go into effect tomorrow or the next day, this can’t be anything but good news. While the rest of the world waits with trepidation to discover just how bad this el Nino will be, we at least appear to have something rather good to look forward to.
In need of rain? Ask a government minister
Filed under: Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, Religion
I feel like a fish that has been left out of water too long. I’m literally gasping for rain. Being one of those foreign transplants from grey, rainy Britain, Israel’s warm climate is a frequent source of joy. But while I enjoy the heat and the sunshine, I still need the storms and rain of winter to help me get through the long, hot, barren, endlessly blue and sunny summers where I seem to suffer a kind of reverse seasonal affect disorder.
Oh for a good heavy rainstorm...
This year I’m not the only one. Even the most hardened Israeli sun-lovers, who normally complain of depression after just one day of rain, are protesting. And with reason. It’s been the driest January since Israeli records began, and it comes after four other exceptionally dry years.
From 1980 to 2007, the available volume of water in Lake Kinneret was 328 million cubic meters a year. This year it will be just 45 million cubic meters. Prof. Uri Shani, head of the Water Authority said the probability of Israel having such a dry winter, after a series of four dry years, was practically zero – but when did probability enter into global warming.
There are all sorts of plans afoot on how to deal with this water crisis – plans which quite frankly should have been put in place a year or two ago, but possibly the most kooky of the lot comes from Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, who has come up with the idea of changing all the mezuzot in the Israel Water Authority offices.
Under Jewish tradition, a mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which is put inside a special case and attached to doorframes as a kind of blessing. Some people like to kiss their hand and touch the case as they go in and out of the building, for good luck.
Simhon’s big plan, then, is to change the blessings inside these mezuzot in an effort to change Israel’s luck with rainfall patterns. The minister explained his logic by telling other ministers that when Labor was at an all-time low in the polls, he changed the mezuzot at the Labor House, and the party doubled its strength.
Good to know the water crisis is in capable hands, eh? Perhaps we should also consider bringing a tribe of native Indians across to do a rainfall dance. Of course water rationing, and a desalination plant or two might also help. But hell, what would I know, I’m not a government minister.
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