Weather It Is (Winter Storm Warning/FLood Warnings)

Good Morning:

A major winter storm will affect the entire country from Thursday morning into Friday night.
As per my last post, temperatures are cold enough to support the development of heavy snow, with snow possible down to elevations of 350 m.

Unlike the last storm, which affected the areas north of Jerusalem with heavy rain and snow, this storm will affect the entire country.  Heavy rain, heavy snow, gale force winds, and dust.

Our 1.3 km forecasts extend out to Friday morning 8 A.M.  We see accumulating snow continuing in the Jerusalem area until about then.  The late morning update will tell us how much warming is expected with the moist air arriving off the Mediterranean and if any accumulation will continue beyond this hour.

Here are he specific warnings and advisories.

Winter Storm Warning for Gush Etzion from 2 P.M Thursday onwards through Friday morning.
Winter Storm Warning for Jerusalem area from 8 P.M onwards through Friday morning.
Snow Advisory for area of Sefad from 6 PM until Friday morning.
Golan: Winter storm warning from mid-day through Friday night.
Snow Advisory for areas down to 350 m, including Ramat Beit Shemesh, Kefar Giladi for tonight after 9 P.M.

Here are the latest snow forecast totals.

Hermon: 50 cm
Golan: 25 cm
Gush Etzion: 25 cm
Jerusalem: 10-20 cm, including about 15 cm in the Old City.
Bet-El/Har Bracha: 15-20 cm
Sefad: 5 to 15 cm.
Ramat Bet-Shemesh, Kefar Giladi: up to 5 cm.

Wind Advisories: 
Coastal areas: gale force winds (60 km/h) with higher gusts from noon onwards until Friday morning.
Inland: strong winds (40 to 50 km/h) with higher gusts from afternoon until Friday morning.

Flood Advisories:
Jordan and Dead Sea Valleys: from afternoon Thursday in Shabbat.
Northern Negev and Arava down to Eilat:  (25 to 50 mm of rain will fall southward to Mitzpe Rimon; 5 to 25 mm south of this line).
Localized flooding in coastal cities due to 25 to 50 mm of rain from Thursday afternoon.
Localized flooding in cities in the north due to rains > 50 mm.

Lightning: with convective storms, including thundersnow.

Dust advisories: for Negev and Arava until Friday noon.