Rain in the northern coastal city of Netanya, February 19 2021. (Flash90)
This winter’s rainfall split Israel into two separate entities, with one receiving average or higher rain, and the other experiencing severe drought, figures show.
An imaginary boundary ran east-west across the Beit Kama Junction, located more or less equidistant between the southern cities of Kiryat Gat and Beersheba.
Kiryat Gat saw 443 millimeters (17.4 inches) of rain, 104 percent of its usual annual average from December 1 to February 28, while Beersheba, just 55 kilometers (34 miles) to the south, experienced just 107 mm (4.2 inches), a quarter of Kiryat Gat’s and just over half (56%) of its annual average.