I hate to bring this up, but the weather here has been amazing, mostly mild and sunny since we have arrived.
The weather does have some quirks however.
First, it is the rainy season, and although it has been drier than normal for this time of year, it does occasionally rain. And when it rains, well…pardon the expression… but it can be biblical. The winds sweep in off the Mediterranean, and the rain comes down in torrents, and with little warning…it feels as though there is someone throwing buckets of water from the sky. Since there are few or no storm sewers, the water rises quickly and before you know it you can be ankle deep in water as you step off a curb, tempting you to leap over giant puddles…which is a risky strategy, since the streets can be very slippery. So waterproof boots are a must; oddly so are sunglasses since it clears up in a hurry.
I was out on a walking tour the other day as part of my Hebrew course (trying desperately to put a coherent sentence together…not succeeding), and the skies opened. We had to duck into a construction site for shelter, which unfortunately was only marginally drier due to its sieve-like roof… As we dodged the interior rain drops, my instructor took a selfie of the two of us…you’ll note our friendly photo-bomber! After about 10 minutes huddling there, we made a dash for a local café…very crowded with like-minded rain refugees and spent a pleasant half an hour waiting for a break in the weather. (I am happy to report that I can now order coffee in Hebrew. Also wine and beer on other occasions…you will note I do have my language learning priorities straight).
Fortunately for us, but not for the country, it has rained rarely during our stay, and the rest of the time it has been bone dry here. I was surprised by this because I am used to humid weather in Tel Aviv, but in the winter, the winds often blow in from the east, i.e. from the desert, and they bring in very dry air. I am not the sort that takes a water bottle everywhere, but there are many times I wish I had. I even had to go out and buy a super intense moisturizer from AHAVA to battle my parchment-like skin. I figured if anyone understood how to combat desert air it would be them…and I was right.
Sometimes during those very dry periods, we see a brownish haze over the city. A little like Toronto on a very humid day. But there is no humidity and It is not pollution as we know it either. So our good friend, Eran, filled us in…Carried along by the dry winds from the desert, this haze is actually a very fine sand! It does not really feel like sand as we think of it, more like a very fine dust so you don’t see the particles, but it is pervasive, and sneaks into all kinds of nooks and crannies, including your throat. Tel Aviv can also have stronger and more obvious sandstorms, but so far we have only experienced the sneaky kind.
But mostly we have had days like this.
