Weather It Is (Weird Weather)

Good Afternoon:

Sometimes the weather is weird, but not often is it weirder than now.

After a series of relatively hot days with unusually high humidity and some tropical showers, the weather maps are looking very much like winter.  A storm will drop down from the northwest and bring rain heavy showers to the north, possibly moderate showers to the center, and lighter showers over southern areas.  The circulation pattern associated with this storm is not a Sharav, but rather that associated with a Mediterranean cyclone (or Cyprus low) -- or wintertime low.

The storm will arrive in two parts, with the first part affecting our area Friday afternoon into Shabbat afternoon, and the next sometime Sunday into early Monday.

To be honest with you, I'm skeptical that it will rain very much.  After all, if we look back in history it will be hard to find many (or even a few) rainy days in very late May or even June. On the other hand, we don't get too many "winter" storms at this time of year, and the sea temperatures are warm enough to provide a good source of moisture for any convective storms that might develop as the storm moves through.

I am sure that you've all been following the news lately -- as the skies rained mortars and missiles, rather than raindrops along the southern coastal areas.

While the weather is strange, I found nothing quite as strange as the quotes from an article in the TOI (https://www.timesofisrael.com/three-soldiers-wounded-by-shrapnel-as-south-buffeted-by-gazan-fusillade/)

A Hamas spokesperson earlier declared that “Israel will fail in the attempt to change the rules of the conflict and set a new equation on the ground.”

and:

“The resistance in the Gaza Strip reserves its right to react or remain silent in accordance with the interest of our people,” he said.

Here's the equation:  Hamas is building an army.  An army requires resources, which we provide in the hopes that it will be used to ameliorate the hardships of the citizens of Gaza (Hamastan).  However, the resistance has defined the interests of its people to destroy Israel, which means that none of these materials reach them.

In the meantime, we hope to "manage" the situation until either we are forced to utterly destroy Hamas or the people do it themselves.  However, Hamas is very good at allocating just enough resources that (combined with military rule) prevents any action by the citizens of Gaza to overthrow its rulers.

And we go along with it.

I'd rather stick to talking and thinking about the weather.

Barry Lynn