First snow falls on Mount Hermon in Israeli Golan Heights

The first snow of the season fell on Mount Hermon in the Israeli Golan Heights on Friday, signaling the start of winter as storms swept across the country.

In the south, images circulating on social media showed roads in Ashkelon and Ashdod flooded by rainfall.

Last December, nearly two feet of snow blanketed Mount Hermon, home to Israel’s only ski resort. In March, the ski resort reopened nearly a year and a half after it was forced to close due to Hezbollah’s rocket and drone attacks on the country.

A month earlier, winter storm “Coral” brought light snowfall to Mount Hermon, as well as to the Galilee and Jerusalem areas, and, for the first time in nine years, to Mount Carmel. The previous time Israel’s capital saw snow was January 2022.

Prior to Friday, Israel experienced a record-setting heatwave, with the first 10 days of November recording the highest maximum temperatures ever for the period in the country’s hills and along the coastal plain.