The heavy snowfall paralyzed Jerusalem during the morning hours, and only later in the day did life in the city return to normal.
The heavy overnight snowfall surprised the city managers, who did not prepare in time for such a massive amount of snow.
Jerusalem municipality said that dozens of snow plows were not purchased due to budgetary considerations, and that the disruption is only for a short duration of a few hours once or twice a year.
The municipality issued a snow warning for tonight based on the forecast of another heavy snowfall that will hit the city.
The main Jerusalem-Tel-Aviv highway was blocked to traffic from Shaar Hagai at 05:30 this morning, also blocked were the roads from Jerusalem to Pisgat Zeev, and the road leading to the suburb of Gilo.
In the morning, public transport was paralyzed, and only the work of a number of tractors and heavy vehicles removed the snow from the main thoroughfares enabling traffic to gradually re-start.
Educational institutions in the city were closed and thousands of children went out to play in the snow.
Published by Israel's Business Arena March 18, 1998