Friday, February 28, 2014

Weather It Is (Will it Snow on Purim?)

Good Morning:

This morning I heard from a passer by that it always snows on Purim.  And, if this weren't enough, he said that considering how strange the winter it is (i.e, no winter at all since our big storm), the chance that we'll get a really big storm on Purim is even higher than usual.

Of course, the caveat was that perhaps we're (i.e, the Jewish people) are getting "punished" for improper behaviour (however you want to define this). Hence, there just might be no storm at all.

I have included various comments I received about whether it always snows on Purim. You can read them below (names withheld; quotes withheld).

So, where does all this talk leave us?  Should we believe the (Old) wives' tale that it always snows on Purim? Let's see what's in our weather crystal ball.

We see quite warm weather in the near future.  We see that the low pressure block in the eastern Atlantic has broken down and been replaced with a large area of high pressure (called the Azore high).

We see that a piece of the high pressure system should migrate into central Europe behind a low pressure trough that will bring our springtime weather to an end early next week. As the high migrates eastward it should force colder air southward helping to reinvigorate a secondary trough ejecting southward from the northern branch of the jet stream.  At this point we are set up for a real winter event.

Unfortunately, we don't see with any clarity beyond this period (10 days out).  For instance, will the northern Jet stream then phase with this (now) southern storm (see picture below)? If so, perhaps my morning acquaintance will be correct.  Shabbat Shalom.
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I remember snow on purim once: the first year I was in israel as a student. of course no buses etc in jerusalem.  i had no winter clothes to speak of, because i thought israel was a warm climate.  walked 2 hours to a seuda wearing boots i pinched out of my roommates closet.  they got ruined and i spent days trying to find an identical pair to replace them - but no such luck.  at the end had to confess.

wait - when i was in sherut leumi it also snowed on purim.

so that is twice.
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the saying you are looking for is: "it always rains on the day the kids dress up at school"
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It snowed in Jerusalem in l979 Purim night.
There were no bulldozers and snow shovels in those days.
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Snow seems so far beyond out of the question right now...
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I remember at least 2 Purims in the Gush that we were snowed in.
That was 30-40 years ago though.
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It snowed on Purim in 1993 or 1994. And I remember it hailed once in Efrat during seuda about 10 years ago.
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שנה .
וזה ממש לא נכון.
אכן היו מקרים של שלג בפורים אבל ברוב השנים זה לא נכון .
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I remember 2 or 3 times in the past 20 yrs but lots of years with hail and rain storms
I think I only remember 3/4 purims without any weather so I guess it's the same chance as snow!
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I had guests that were once snowed in when they came to visit me up north...they were from Cleveland
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