Weather It Is (A Breather, Of Sorts!)

Good Afternoon:

I look out the window and I see winter-like (cold) clouds, full of ice. True, they are not very deep clouds, but with the wind and relative cold, it does seem like winter. The winds seem to be taking a breather, as the trees sway back and forth, but not with the same wild abandon as last night.

The wife comes home in her Eddie Bauer winter coat.  I ask: "cold out there?"  "Not really," she says.  She never wanted winter back and she is doing her best to ignore it.

However, even the stout-hearted will eventually start to notice.  Fortunately, the heavy dust is gone and the remaining dust is slowly slipping out of our borders (for the most part).  But, heavy rain will continue in the north.  Slightly warming temperatures will change the snow to rain in the area of Safed, leaving only the higher areas with the Golan (and Hermon) with continuing snow accumulations.  All of this should end late tonight or tomorrow morning (but return late Shabbat as rain except on the Hermon).

For us in the center, we should have light to moderate rain late Friday to wash away some of the dust.
This storm is also a cold one, especially at the higher levels of the atmosphere (e.g., 500 mb), but the surface temperatures will probably be too warm for snow.  Instead, there may be some ice/graupel.

Looking ahead, winter stays with us until mid-next week. It's at that point a decision will have to be made as high pressure reasserts itself over central Europe.  Will the northern branch of the jet stream couple with the southern branch of the jet stream as unseasonably cold air streams southward around this high?  Or, will winter putter along, or possibly warm as spring approaches?  The best chance is for puttering, but there is a 25% chance of something more serious.

Shabbat Shalom,

Barry Lynn