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Very unstable weather has been dominating Israel, mainly Jerusalem, for several days. A low pressure system with an unusually active warm front produced a severe Alto-Cb just two days ago, and today the cold front was forecasted to pass Israel. Usually cold fronts are much more active than warm fronts in Israel, so I new that today will be a good chasing day. The temperatures were still higher than normal, which made the cold front even more promising.
The morning was clear and warm. I decided to stay
in Jerusalem for the chase, and it turned out to be a very good decision.
Cumulus clouds began to appear at around 10:00. They weren't showing great
convection though. in 12:15 I saw the first good-looking tower of the day.
It was growing fast, but collapsed. another one followed, and collapsed
too. The cold front still
didn't show up in the horizon. Finally I saw a promising tower going
up over the western mountains of Jerusalem. I chased it, and I could see
that this one will definately develop to a nice storm. Then I saw another
towering cumulus farther southwards. It looked hard, but I couldn't see
the updraft base. I decided to leave it and stick with the one I was chasing,
which was now to my NW. If only I knew how wrong I was...
The tower I was chasing developed nicely, and at 16:45 the first rumble of thunder was heard, as a large anvil extended above me. The dark updraft base was completely rain-free. I drove to a high point where I could see better, and then I suddenly saw the tower from earlier, which was still to my south. It developed to a beautiful supercell, which was moving very slowly eastwards. Another Supercell developed behind it, forming a straight line of storms, which was probably the cold front. A flash flood warning was issued for Jerusalem and the mountains around it. It turned out to be that Jerusalem was the only stormy area of Israel that day.
I thought about chasing the supercell to my south, but it was too far away. I decided to stay with my cell, and hope it will develop. I wasn't too disappointed, because I had a great view of the supercell, and took some excellent photos. The cell I was chasing also started to look promising. There was no rain at all, and there were lots of CGs. A small, rotating wall cloud appeared, but soon dissipated. A nice mammatus cloud was also visible. I chased the cell for almost 2 hours, and still it wasn't raining, and lightning was more frequent. The wall cloud appeared and disappeared again. The thick anvil covered the entire area, so unfortunately I couldn't see the other supercell. The temperatures suddenly dropped from 16 to 7.
Then, at around 18:40, heavy marble size hale began
falling, and within minutes covered the ground. The cell collapsed, and
a mixture of heavy rain and hail began to fall. Half an hour later the
cell became very weak, and I turned back home. It was 19:15, and I didn't
think it could develop again. The sun had already set, and I didn't want
to chase in the night, although further cells developed later. I had a
great lightning show on my way home. It was a great chase.