"A STORM COMETH"

 4 Adar 5781

So, the third lockdown just ended here a week ago and already they say they are going to have to lock us down for Purim.  Who knows when that will start.  With an actual blizzard being predicted to arrive in Jerusalem beginning tomorrow night, I felt today was my best chance to go to town and shop for Purim.  

The lockdown doesn't really prevent one from traveling to Jerusalem and wandering anywhere he wants, but during the lockdown, there is no place to go.  All the businesses are closed except phone and computer stores, housewares and hardware, groceries and pharmacies.  I've been waiting a long time to buy some clothes for my grandchildren and some new shoes for me.  I forgot that they were opening up this last closure "slowly," so what I found open in Jerusalem today was the phone and computer stores, housewares and hardware, groceries and pharmacies.  Every single clothing and shoe store was closed up tight.  As one of my dearest friends likes to say: " <sigh>".

I did get everything I needed for my seudah and mishloach manot, however.  And there are three family birthdays coming up.  Picked up a few things on that score, but not enough.  A costume is no issue since I wear the same one every year - the queen bee.  

Speaking of the "blizzard," the Jerusalem Weatherman who keeps us all updated on snow news in the capital of Israel, explains that a blizzard is not defined by how much snow there is but by how much wind accompanies it.  I had only been out of Colorado for four years when I saw my first Jerusalem snowfall - 18 inches!!  I kid you not!! That was twenty-one years ago and there have been a few snows in Jerusalem since, but nothing like that one.  For the past nearly ten years I've been living in what I think is the friendliest and most beautiful little village in all the Land of Israel, out in the Judean Desert.  We are only 12 miles east of Jerusalem, but 500 meters lower in elevation, so it would be a very special gift from HKB"H for my grandchildren if snow fell even out here.

Actually, it seems like there is an awful lot of it going around.  Did you see this?

Historic Winter Storm! Ice Storm, Blizzard Conditions & Record Cold! - POW Weather Channel

It's even snowing in my hometown of Houston, Texas! That's a rarity. But, it's not just the US. Look at this...

Low temperatures records have been tumbling across the planet of late, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere — North America, Europe, and Asia have each logged thousands of new cold records this winter, and now the situation looks set to intensify even further...

Latest GFS runs show a hemisphere-wide hyperborean invasion starting now and running all of next week, with brutal Arctic air masses occupying the majority of the mid-latitudes by Monday, Feb. 15.

Temperature departures of 20C below the winter average will grip much of North America and Russia, with North Africa and eastern Asia also copping nation-spanning blasts of anomalous cold.

We are going to start hearing a lot more harping on climate change because the weather anomalies are gonna go up another whole level of crazy. [See "Here Comes the Sun".  Note: video came from a 2009 interview.] 

Wherever you are, I hope you are warm and cozy!