Ye olde Associatede Presse
A rare snowstorm swept the Middle East on Wednesday, blanketing parts of the Holy Land in white, shutting schools and sending excited children into the streets for snowball fights.
Jerusalem’s Old City was coated in white. A few ultra-Orthodox Jews, wearing plastic bags over their hats to keep them dry, prayed at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site.
Snow falls in Jerusalem once or twice each winter, but temperatures rarely drop low enough for it to stick. The Israeli weather service said up to 8 inches of snow fell in the city.
By late morning, the snow changed to rain, turning the city into a slushy mess. But forecasters said temperatures were expected to drop, and the snow would continue through Thursday morning.
Heavy snow also was reported in the Golan Heights and the northern Israeli town of Safed, and throughout the West Bank.
In Ramallah, residents were surprised to see snow when they awoke. For some, it was their first time.
Oh, no, wait, it has to be weather. It’s only climate when it makes the point of the climahysterics. Interesting that we have had two abnormal cold events in less then a month in the Middle East.
