March 16 1997 Chase Report
It has been a very rainy March so far, and the temperatures
were well below the average. The forecast was that a low pressure system
has developed over Cyprus, and the cold front was to arrive in Israel during
the evening. The morning was partly cloudy with a mix of Stratocumulus
and Cumulus, without any interesting features. So was the rest of the day.
The winds were getting stronger and cooler in 18:30, and I decided to go
and see if I can catch the cold front before the sun disappears. I drove
westwards, and decided to go to Nataf, in the western Judean Mountains,
where I could watch the mediterranean coast from a high place, without
anything blocking my view. In Nataf I suddenly saw this beautiful Cb cloud
in the west, which was part of the cold front. I couldn't tell if the cloud
had any severe features. It was very slow moving. I took a few pictures
and drove towards Tel-Aviv, but the sun had almost completely disappeared.
The cloud was still over the sea, so I decided to go back to Jerusalem.
Later that evening, the cloud arrived at Jerusalem,
and it dumped a huge amount
of hail and rain. I tried to chase it a little with the lightning as my
only light, but it wasn't very safe so I went back home, and watched the
lightning show from my window.
