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Does it Snow in Israel?

Does it snow in Israel? The short answer is yes, but the long answer is a little more complex.

Israel is in the Middle East which generally has a very hot climate most times of the year. I’d generally compare the weather in Israel to that of California.

However, despite being a tinny country that could easily fit within Lake Michigan, it has a wide variety of landscapes and an array of microclimates.

So, while yes it does snow in Israel, it only snows in specific places.

It also depends on what you consider “snow.”

When I was around the age of 10 it “snowed” about half an inch and it was really more like slush. Tis was nothing compared to what I experienced the next year after moving to New York.

A four years after I moved back to Israel, I was in Jerusalem when it “snowed” and it was just large flurries.

This was the first time I saw snow since moving back and I was so excised that I hung outside my apartment window trying to catch some snowflakes.

Despite Jerusalem being in the mountains, a real snow is so infrequent that when there was 10-inches of snow due to a snowstorm in 2015 the whole city shut down.

I think it was that same year that they brought mounds of snow to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem where it never snows.

On the other hand, I have a cousin who lives up north and was snowed into her house and I was under the impression the snow was over a foot high.

For the most part, if you want to find snow in Israel, you need to go to Mount Hermon which is home to Israel’s only ski resort, which is open for less than two months out of the year.

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