Weather It Is (Ah, Winter)

Good Evening:

The other day my wife asked me if it would rain next week (which is now this week).  I said that it will be very warm on Shabbat and that, indeed, that it might just, perhaps, rain next week.  She preceded to make up a song: "maybe rain, maybe snow; who knows?"  She sang it more than once because she likes to sing. Now, one might think that I just might get some respect around here -- after all this is my home!  The good news is that my children do ask me for a weather forecast from time to time, so not all is lost.

Lest you think the sky was falling, or will be falling, those were raindrops (albeit dirty raindrops) that soddened our shabbat clothes. The amazing thing was that I saw people wearing coats almost within seconds of the rain, meaning that there are true winter believers in Efrat.  This is very heartening.

We're on track for a heavy rain event to move south to north tonight as moisture rotates around an approaching low pressure trough.  It looks some of this moisture is streaming in all the way from the Atlantic ocean. The trough will intensify again tomorrow afternoon and bring another bout of rain to cover the whole country into Monday morning.  When all is said and done, it won't feel like winter anymore!

Looking further ahead, another area of low pressure should approach mid-week, and temperatures should continue to cool down and actually approach the freezing level at 850 mb (or about 1500 meters above sea level).  Feeding the low pressure area is high pressure still located over western Europe. There are a couple of ensemble members that actually bring us below freezing, but the most likely scenario is just another rain event. This time the moisture will approach over the sea from the northwest as the cold air spills in.

Looking to Purim day: temperatures should moderate ahead of low pressure approaching from the west, and we actually squeeze in a couple of pleasant days.

Sincerely and Happy Purim,

Barry Lynn