Jerusalem – Snow began falling in the elevated suburbs of Jerusalem on Wednesday January 09 2013 following a deluge of rain that shut down major arteries across Israel and turned highways into raging rivers on Tuesday.

As temperatures began falling in the capital, there was some accumulation of snow, including 2cm on the ground in both Gilo and Pisgat Ze’ev. This was sufficient for some enterprising Jerusalemites to build small snowmen and to sled on plastic bags.

While public transport is running as per usual, Jerusalem residents have been asked to avoid driving private vehicles after 1 p.m. to minimize congestion.