Tuesday, January 06, 2015

I Miss The Surprise Snows

Nowadays with the super-scientific, pretty accurate 10-day (and more) weather predictions, all the magic has disappeared from the snows which used to surprise us with their pristine beauty.

For me, surprise when suddenly it was snowing was one of the greatest things about the snow. It magnified its beauty.

from last year's snow of Dec. 2013

from last year's snow of Dec. 2013

Now, with all the warnings and predictions, people are so stressed out. A few weeks ago, the forecasters had claimed that last Shabbat (weekend) would be stormy and snowy, but it wasn't. There was a bit of rain, plenty of sun, but that was it.

And now the news has been full of snow warnings for the Jerusalem area. This has been going on for days. I work in a clothing store, as you know, Yafiz of the Rami Levy big-business, and heavy gloves are sold before they hit the shelves. People are buying "gotkes," that's the Yiddish for long underwear. You don't have to be an Ashkenaz (ethnic European) Jew to use the term. It's considered Hebrew, and I've even heard Arabs use it. Of course, we've sold lots of them. The same goes for heavy winter coats, sweaters and more. We have lots of fuzzy pajamas for women and girls, just perfect if you want to stay cozy and warm.

Too bad I don't have a large personal stock of hot water bottles to sell. Rami Levy ran out them days ago. People keep asking me if we have any to sell, so I send them to the nearby pharmacy in Sha'ar Binyamin.

I wonder how much snow will stick here in Shiloh. According to the forecasts, it'll only be "freezing" weather on Friday night, and not much precipitation is predicted for then.

Tuesday
January 6
Wednesday
January 7
Thursday
January 8
Friday
January 9
Saturday
January 10
Sunday
January 11
Mon.
J. 12
Local time081420020814200208142002081420020814200208142002
Cloudiness, 
%
Precipitation, 
mm
Temperature, 
°C
+10
+11
+8
+7
+8
+5
+6
+6
+8
+7
+6
+7
+7
+3
+3
+4
+5
+4
+6
+6
+7
+7
+6
+5
Feels like, 
°C
+8
+4
+3
+4
+1
+3
+2
+5
+4
+3
+4
+4
-1
0
+1
+3
0
+3
+4
+6
+3
Pressure, 
mm
686
685
687
687
686
686
688
690
692
692
693
692
690
688
691
691
691
689
689
687
688
691
694
696
Humidity, 
%
656644566184757068717977819370667294858485777875
Wind, 
m/s
4
10
9
9
10
6
5
7
5
5
4
5
4
4
3
4
2
5
4
3
1
2
1
2
SWSWSWSWSWWWWWWWWWNWNWWWSWSWWNWNWNW
Sun
rise / set
06:4016:49  06:4016:50  06:4016:50  06:4016:51  06:4016:52  06:4016:53 06:40
Moon
rise / set
18:1307:10  19:0607:50  19:5908:26  20:5209:01  21:4409:34  22:3610:06 23:29
phase

But that hasn't stopped people from stocking up and panicking.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The perfect way to hold off a storm is to be totally prepared! Are people panicking? maybe. But for goodness sake, why is that only SNOW brings out the need for new coats and gloves?! Shouldn't most of this have been bought at the BEGINNING of winter when it started raining?! Although I do understand the occasional lost item when dealing with children! :)

Here's hoping for one good snow day! Thanks for the blog!

Eliana

Batya said...

Eliana, like Murphy's Law...
We even have mittens on a string... at Yafiz.
The funny thing is that not all the yishuvim where our customers live even get snow. A few times I asked where the people live in helping them decide what to buy.