Up to 10 inches (25 cm) of snowfall and blizzard conditions in Jerusalem. Palm trees blanketed with heavy snow.
“The Middle East looked more like central Canada Wednesday as a rare* winter storm covered an area from Turkey to Israel with snow and falling temperatures,” says weathernetwork.com. (italics added)
The powerful winter storm dumped heavy snow in the mountains and central Bekaa Valley, where gas stations, banks, schools and most shops closed, and proved particularly trying for the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who live in tents and makeshift shelters in the Bekaa.
Near the town of Anjar, men used brooms and sticks to try to clear the heavy snow from the tops of refugee tents, while inside the tents, adults could be seen huddling around wood burning stoves to try to keep warm.
Elsewhere, Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip declared a state of emergency over the storm.
Up to 10 inches (25 cm) of snowfall in Jerusalem
Snow accumulated in the Golan Heights and northern Israel. Schools across Jerusalem closed ahead of a forecast warning of blizzard conditions and 10 inches (25 cm) of snowfall.
In Syria, snow brought traffic to a near standstill in Damascus, prompting closure of schoola and universities for two days.
* Although it used to be considered unusual, snowfall in the Middle East is no longer a rarity. The past few winters have brought snow despite previously going decades without seeing any snow at all, the weathernetwork explains.
“In December 2013, storms descended on parts of Syria, Jordan and Israel, dumping record snowfall totals, areas that had not witnessed snow in 50 years. That storm also brought snow to Egypt, giving it snow for the first time in over 100 years.”
http://news.yahoo.com/snow-falls-middle-east-strong-winter-storm-strikes-073436852.html
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/snow-blankets-the-middle-east-as-rare-winter-storm-affects-area/43170/
Thanks to Alan Caruba and Argiris Diamantis for these links
“Not one word about this on Dutch television news,” says Argiris.