"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
. . . "
The events in Israel over the past twelve days sometimes made me think of Robert Frost's poem. A few days after our forest fire inferno, winter suddenly struck the country with snow, rain, gale force winds, and a sandstorm.
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The photo, albeit from December 2008, shows how weird and dark the sun gets over Jerusalem during a duststorm.
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From Friday until today I shut myself into the house, but still the fine particles entered.
They entered my eyes and nose and throat. Oi .
Jerusalem suffered with ten times the "legal" amount of air pollution until this morning when some rain washed our air.
Ahh, so nice to breathe again.
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The 9-meter waves battered the Mediterranean coast and did great damage.
A Turkish ship sank 8 miles from Ashdod Port, with all crew members rescued.
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Everything that could blow over did so. Huge damage to agriculture. And the hothouse flowers meant for Europe's Christmas markets.
Thousands of trees down. On people inside their cars, and on electric wires. Thousands of residents are still without electricity.
Trees on the railroad tracks stopped the trains. No visibility closed airports for a while. The waves were too dangerous for ships to dock. Winds gusting to 110 km/h were too much for cars on the highways.
Flooding of streets and houses.
Schools were closed in the northern Golan Heights due to snow.
Mt. Hermon already has 120 cm of snow.
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Land mines from previous wars in the Golan Heights have washed down or shifted positions.
Future hikers are warned to stay on marked trails.
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The homeless (2000 known to the welfare authorities and ~ 1000 not known) are being offered shelter and hot meals and showers to save them from the freezing cold.
Jerusalem, the coldest city, is down to 7-8 degrees C (about 45 F).
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But our neighbors are also suffering. We are all in this together!
The low pressure zone and SW winds blew sand from Egypt and wild weather into Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. In Egypt 18 are dead from the storm.
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May we all make it through this latest trial, and soon.
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Such is our world in the Middle East, these last few days, for That's My World Tuesday.
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Monday, December 13, 2010
Wild weather in the Middle East
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What a week. Sort of reminds you to be careful what you wish for...
ReplyDeleteSuch a weird weather... Never heard of 9 meters waves in the Med.
ReplyDeleteI have read about the horrid week you have had. The fires were incredible and horrifying to view on TV. We, in SoCA, have seasonal fires that often rage out of control. It never ceases to shock me.
ReplyDeleteNature can often make for some lovely photos in its ominous ways.
This kind of weather sounds very hard, at least for Middle East. Take care...
ReplyDeleteYou certainly are suffering extremes in weather! Be well!
ReplyDeleteNot so different from the conditions here excpt for the land mines.
ReplyDeleteOur floods have claimed many lives as well as ruining the wheat and cherry harvest as well as hay.
The fire that cost us our house and all else in 1983 was preceded by an intense dust storm so you could not see the smoke and fire until it was ten feet from you. The next night when no one had a roof over their heads there was a rainstorm and people were being saved from the ensuing floods with houses unexpectedly flooding in the middle of the night.
We are all at the mercy of mother nature, except that our fire started from electricity wires expanded by high temperatures, clicking together in the high wind and sparking to the tinder dry vegetation below.
Life certainly is an adventure!
Who says:"the climate is not changing?"
ReplyDeleteAll these strange weather circumstances are frightening.
A pity that the climate conference in Mexico didn ' t come with results.
I do hope you will have some normal pleasant weather soon. Take care ofbyour health.
I was just seeing some of this on the news tonight... and I thought of you, and other bloggers from Israel. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteBlessing you, Dina
ReplyDelete(Your comments on my post "under their wings" really touched me and educated some people I know)
Aloha from Hawaii
Comfort Spiral
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A deep bow in respect of your writing.
ReplyDeletePlease have you all a good Tuesday.
daily athens
such freaky weather...when i saw the huge waves on TV, i never thought it was in the Middle East. my friends in Saudi Arabia told me how cold it is. be safe.
ReplyDeleteWeather is changing everywhere, it seems. But your weather is really terrible. Hope it improves soon.
ReplyDeleteOh my, Dina! What a stretch of nastiness! Take good care and stay well.
ReplyDeleteFrom one extreme in weather to another. It must be very trying. I wish you and your country the best. May this pass quickly.
ReplyDeletebut we always have the internet
ReplyDeleteAmazing light but that was a very sudden turn of the weather from dry, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt seems drastic changes are taking place everywhere! About two weeks ago, on a certain day, temperature has raised 10ºC; guess what happened! A tornado took place and devastated an area of more than 30 kms in central Portugal. The images of destruction were unbelievable and it was hard to believe no one has died... Nothing like this happened before.
ReplyDelete