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   After the Red Sea Trough reached northern Saudi Arabia in May 12 and was so close to Israel, I was out chasing everyday. In May 13 I missed a severe storm over the southern Arava region of Israel, near Eilat. In May 14 I again missed a severe storm over the same region (how frustrating!). But the trough was still not fully active, and the core of the storms was in Jordan and Saudia, where Israeli chasers unfortunately can't go.

 

    During the night of May 14 and early morning of May 15, the winds shifted from SE to S. The trough had reached Israel. Instead of bringing hot dry winds from the eastern deserts of Syria and Jordan, the winds now brought great humidity from the Red Sea in southern Israel. As I woke up that morning, the only clouds in the sky were a few scattered Altocumulus, and I felt the strong humid southerly winds. My chase destination for that day was Jerusalem, because I knew that when the hot humid winds reach the Jerusalem mountains, they will cool considerably and some convection has to happen.

    By 16:00 the many towering Altocumulus and Altocumulus Castellanus filled the sky. Severe storm warning and flash flood warning was issued for Eilat, the Arava, the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem. In 18:30 the same warnings were issued for almost entire Israel. I decided to stay in Jerusalem, because it was 1300 meters higher than the Arava area, where the large Alto-Cb was to develop later that day. I drove to the Holyland viewpoint in southern Jerusalem, where I had an awesome view southeast, where I knew the storm would come from. in 19:15 I saw beautiful virga falling from a large ACCAS cloud, which was still not the main storm. The virga was beautifully lit by the setting sun. A few minutes later I saw the first lightning bolt, and the Alto-Cumulonimbus cloud that developed in the last few hours bursted with fury over Jerusalem. All I had to do was sit down in the Holyland viewpoint and watch the show. Two other chasers were already there, setting up their tripods and cameras, and so did I. There were spectacular lightning, especially cloud-to-ground bolts. There was about one CG bolt for every 2 CC, a lightning bolt every 3 seconds. The lightning show lasted 2 hours, without a drop of rain. And then, in 21:20, what appeared to be a gust front passed over me, and the temperatures (which were around 27 Celsius) dropped sharply to about 16 in less than a minute. The winds were much stronger, some of them very severe. Gusts passed 80 Kmh. Hail and rain finally began pouring down. I noticed a few hail stones larger than a marble. I quickly found shelter as the hail shaft of the storm was directly above me. The heavy hail lasted for about 25 minutes, and then it passed, with light to moderate rain behind it. The lightning were still intense. I heard over the radio that flash floods were occurring almost everywhere in the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea. The storm weakened somewhat as it came down from the Jerusalem Mountains and approached Tel-Aviv, at 22:10. I left the viewpoint and chased the storm a bit, but the severe features were gone and all that was left were rain showers and some lightning.

    May 15 has been a huge ending to my week of chases under the Red Sea Trough. This storm was the best storm of the season. Unfortunately, it was the last one too. I'll have to wait until October 1997, when the next storm chasing season begins in Israel..