January 23, 2003

Fine weather forecast for Election Day

By DAVID RUDGE

Regardless of political predictions, the forecast for the weather on Election Day is for relatively mild and rainless conditions. The Israel Meteorological Service (IMS) took the unusual step on Thursday of extending its normal four-day forecast to include the whole of Tuesday. Shmuel Rahamim, director of the forecasting division of the IMS, told The Jerusalem Post that the move followed a flood of inquiries from various sources, all anxious to learn about expected weather conditions on the day. According to Rahamim, IMS experts set up several models in an attempt to make as accurate a prediction as possible. "We can say with a good deal of certainty, because all the models found the same, that it will not rain on Tuesday," said Rahamim. "It will be a mainly fine day, with some medium-to-high cloud cover, and not very windy, although the following day, Wednesday, we are likely to see a drop in temperatures and light rain, beginning in the North," he said.

All of the political parties had expressed concern that inclement weather on polling day could keep voters at home, especially in light of the public's apparent apathy towards the elections generally.

For those more concerned about the nation's depleted fresh water sources, however, rain whenever it falls is a blessing.

The Water Commissioners' Office (WCO) said the recent rain, which fell primarily in central and southern districts, had done little to help the state of Lake Kinneret.

The level of the lake, which stood at 214.42 meters below sea level at its lowest point before the onset of winter rains in December, has risen by just 56 centimeters reaching 213.86 m. below sea level on Thursday.

"The lake is 4.96 meters below its maximum mark, which is the equivalent of nearly 850 million cubic meters," said WCO spokesman Uri Schor.

The IMS in its medium-range forecast for the main rainy months December, January and February said it expected precipitation to be average with a tendency to slightly below average.

"We are not changing the forecast, although in this case we would be only too happy to be wrong and the winter proved to be wetter than average," said Rahamim.

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