Nearly two feet of snow blanketed Mount Hermon on Tuesday, as Israel’s biggest winter storm this season whipped through the country, with record-breaking rains along the northern coast.
Mount Hermon, home to Israel’s only ski resort, remains closed to visitors for the second year straight due to the ongoing war and the volatility in nearby Syria. Nevertheless, the management of Mount Hermon’s visitor center dutifully reported Tuesday that 1.8 feet of snow had accumulated on the mountain’s upper slopes, while 1.3 feet was recorded on its lower slopes.
Since the sudden fall of longtime Syrian leader Bashar Assad earlier this month, Israeli soldiers have taken up temporary positions throughout Mount Hermon, including on the Syrian side of the strategic plateau. The area has been declared a closed military zone.
Elsewhere, the northern Israeli port city of Haifa was pounded with more than seven inches of rain over the last 72 hours, breaking a 55-year-old record for rainfall in such a short time frame, Ynet reported.
The winter storm began on Friday night north of Tel Aviv, deluging the coastal areas between Hadera and Haifa with much-needed rains. This followed an unseasonably warm and dry December, which is typically the first of three wintry months in Israel.
A rare, brief hailstorm even pelted Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning before peaks of sun mixed with a sunshower returned by midday.
The storm was forecast to weaken later Tuesday, with sunny skies returning for New Years’ Day.
