ByTZVI JOFFRE

The Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) rose by 3.5 centimeters on Monday, rising to 209.9 meters below sea level as rain fell across Israel on Sunday and Monday and snow fell on Mount Hermon.

The lake is now 1.1 meters below the upper red line threshold, which marks 208.8 meters below sea level, and 3.1 meters above the lower red line, which marks 213 meters below sea level.
On Sunday night, about two centimeters of snow fell on Mount Hermon, with about 10 cm accumulating on the bottom of the ski resort and about 25 cm at the peak. It was a chilly -1 C (30.2 F) at the ski resort as of Monday morning.

The Hermon is currently closed to visitors due to the coronavirus lockdown, and has not received permission to open as some other parks have, according to its spokesperson.

Further rainfall and snowfall is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday, with strong winds on Tuesday and concerns of flooding on Wednesday.

The past two years have featured above-average rainfall in Israel, with the Israel Hydrological Service announcing last May that the country had, for the first time in 30 years, experienced its second straight year of such rainfall with 24% more recorded.

The Kinneret rose by 3.01 meters in the 2019-2020 rainy season, reaching its highest level since 2004, as high as 208.89 meters below sea level, just 9 cm. below the upper red line.

The 2018-2019 rainy season was also marked by higher than average rainfall, with 33% more rainfall recorded. The Kinneret rose by 3.47 meters last year. The last time two years were recorded with rainfall at this high a level above average was from 1986-1988.

In April, the Water Authority decided to open a canal to divert five billion liters of water from the Kinneret to the southern Jordan River, with the goal of bypassing the Deganya Dam to avoid negatively affecting pumping stations in the area and the financial costs required to open the dam.

The expectation had been that if the lake exceeded the upper red line threshold, the dam would be opened and the water would be diverted to the Jordan River. The last time it was opened was in 2013. The dam had been expected to be partially opened at the beginning of May to prevent flooding, according to the Kinneret Draining Authority.

Until only 15 years ago, the lake was one of Israel’s primary sources of drinking water, as the country’s first large-scale desalination facility in Ashkelon only became operational in 2005.