Schools close as country battens down for storm

Schools in Jerusalem and around the country closed at midday on a rain-soaked Thursday, allowing pupils to get home before the arrival of snow that already began falling in higher elevations of northern Israel.

The early closure move came as weather forecasters predicted that snow would fall in higher elevations of northern and central Israel over the evening and throughout the night. Dozens of centimeters of snow were expected in some regions, including significant precipitation in the capital.

The Meteo-tech weather forecasting website predicted temperatures in Jerusalem would dip to below freezing overnight and on Friday were not likely to rise above 3° C (37° F) with constant snow fall.

Roads in and out of Jerusalem were expected to be closed off in the evening as the city braces for a blast of wintry weather expected to hit ahead of the weekend. City Hall wrote on its website that the police would close arteries to the city according to situation assessments as snow began to fall, and advised travelers to make their way to or from the capital before noon.

Over 200 snow plows, mechanical diggers, and salt trucks and dozens of four-by-four vehicles stood by in order to clear the streets.

By midday light snow was reported in the Golan Heights and the Hermon ski resort was closed as a precautionary measure. Rain and wind soaked many other areas of the country stretching from the coast inland to Jerusalem and reaching as far south as the Negev Desert.

In West Bank settlements, many of which are located along the mountainous spine that runs through the hinterland, school was canceled in the early afternoon as communities prepared for the storm.

Train service between Rishon Lezion and Lod and between Beersheba and Dimona were canceled in order to free up carriages for other overloaded lines, Ynet reported. Shuttle bus services were provided for customers on those lines.

Schools in affected areas were not expected to open on Friday but a formal announcement was to be made later in the evening as officials assess the situation.

In anticipation of the inclement weather, Israel’s basketball league chose to postpone the State Cup game between Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv scheduled Thursday, Channel 2 reported earlier this week.

Last week, forecasters predicted snowfall in higher elevations from the north to Jerusalem, but the storm only brought heavy rains, dust storms and gale force winds to most of Israel.

In early January forecasters had predicted a large snowfall that was expected to cripple Jerusalem and the area, but only some five centimeters (two inches) fell in the capital, with most roads cleared in a matter of hours.

The precautions in Jerusalem were driven by memories of a surprisingly heavy storm in December 2013 that blanketed the capital for days, blocking roads, bringing down power lines and trees, causing blackouts and cutting off the capital to travel.