Jerusalem covered in snow
30/01/2008 14:16  - (SA)  

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Jerusalem - A heavy overnight snowstorm blanketed Jerusalem and other parts of the Holy Land in white on Wednesday, closing schools and stores and grounding public transportation.

The sense of excitement among Israelis, used to warm Middle Eastern weather, was palpable.

Children threw snowballs on the slushy streets, and the weather topped local newscasts, eclipsing an upcoming government report on the 2006 war in Lebanon that could pressure Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

Snow often falls in Jerusalem once or twice each winter, but temperatures rarely drop low enough for it to stick. The city is not designed to deal with snowy weather. With schools shut, most public places closed down and many people stayed home from work.

Felix Bouhnik drove to Jerusalem with his wife from the central city of Rishon Lezion, about an hour away, just to see the snow. Bouhnik said the snow made Jerusalem look "very Swiss". Bouhnik, 60, said he had not seen snow like this here - "never in Israel, only in Europe", he said.

The streets of Jerusalem were virtually empty, but dozens of people bundled up in warm clothing played in the snow at Gan Sacher, the city's central park. A snowman contest was planned for later in the day.

The Israeli Meteorological Service said up to 20cm of snow had fallen so far in Jerusalem. By late morning, the snow had changed to rain, turning the city into a slushy mess. But forecasters said temperatures were expected to drop, and the snow would continue through Thursday morning.

Jerusalem's Old City was coated in white and a few ultra-Orthodox Jews, wearing plastic bags over their hats to keep them dry, braved the cold to pray at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.

Jerusalem municipality dispatched emergency vehicles to make sure no homeless people were stranded and take them to shelters after one person died from the cold overnight, a spokeperson told Israel Radio.

The West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, also came to a standstill. There were virtually no cars on the streets, and excited children threw snowballs at each other and rolled around in the snow.

Heavy snow also was reported in the Golan Heights and the northern Israeli town of Safed, and throughout the West Bank.

- AP

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