More On The Weather

By: Larry Gordon

At least now we don’t have to worry about any more paralyzing snowstorms since the worst appears to be behind us. That is, unless another monster nor’easter is planning to head our way in the upcoming days and weeks.

Full disclosure compels me to admit that we escaped to Florida before the blizzard hit, so even as I tap these words into my computer, I’ve not seen so much as a snowflake during this latest storm. As I mentioned previously, there’s not so much as a snow shovel to be found anywhere in South Florida, not even at Home Depot.

So, as our grandchildren were being entertained by their parents, i.e., stuck at home, all we could see down here was green grass and more green grass, and the flowing waters in a lake that runs near our place.

It was unusually cool down here two mornings this week, but by “unusually cool,” I mean about 45 degrees. On Sunday, as our family was hunkering down for the storm, it was 85 degrees down here in Boynton Beach, and for the first time, I was a little uncomfortable mentioning that. I’m glad it cooled down for two days. But it still feels silly to mention such things.

For Dovi Wexler of Woodmere, who’s been in the salt business for more than three decades, this has been a great season. While most of us pray for rain in Israel, if you happen to be in the same minyan as Dovi, you might notice him praying for ice. And this year, it was not only a matter of a dream come true for Dovi—it was a matter of a prayer being answered.

While Dovi is in the salt business, he also dabbles as an amateur weather prognosticator, studying weather maps and patterns. If you’re in his WhatsApp group, you know how passionate he is about weather patterns and how the experts predict when it’s going to snow and more importantly, how many inches of snow are expected to fall that could keep us involuntarily sheltering in place.

Over the last weekend, Dovi insisted that from Sunday to Monday, a massive blizzard would overwhelm New York. But he added that some of the meteorologists were predicting only 1 to 3 inches of snow. That was far off the mark when you take into consideration that Islip, Long Island had 31 inches of the fluffy white stuff.

For Wexler, the previous storm was a doozy for us and a boon for him. To the extent that I can understand what he does, it seems that he buys the kind of salt that is used to melt ice on roads and sidewalks by the truckload and repackages it accordingly. As you know, for the last few years, there hasn’t been much ice or snow, but these last few weeks for Wexler have really been a grand slam home run, so to speak.

The first snowstorm that introduced New Yorkers to the extent of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s incompetence was like nothing compared to what many New Yorkers had to deal with next.

Wedding dates, in some cases, were moved up a few days, hoping to skirt the worst of it so people could attend simchas with as little trouble as possible. Some organizational dinners had to be moved to other dates to accommodate the storm, which gave an excuse to those who didn’t really want to attend in the first place, ample reason not to.

So how did this yeshiva boy from Brooklyn who attended the Vien Yeshiva become so interested in weather forecasting to the point that snow-related matters evolved into his business?

I think it might have started like it began for all kids, that is, davening for snow so that our yeshivaswould be closed a day or two and we would get an unearned few days off from school that did not come under the heading of Yeshiva Week. In fact, this year seems to be a bonus year with tons of snow falling very soon after the 5- to 12-day Yeshiva Week break. Now that’s what I call a real yeshiva break.

Dovi says he can’t really explain, but he was always enamored with snow. And that has nothing to do with the fact that he’s in the business of melting ice over all these years.

He acknowledges that while the salt that he and others sell makes the sidewalks and walkways passable, the salt also deteriorates the street and creates those rough car rides we endure from time to time along with those doozy types of potholes that can result in flat tires and other damage to your auto.

Dovi says the salt is shipped to the U.S. in container ships from who knows where and is offloaded to his trucks, where it is driven to his facilities and broken down and repackaged into bags of a few pounds on up to the larger size that you need to wheel out to your car or truck.

His weather forecasting has nothing to do with his ice melting business. Perhaps one interest just fed the other. Right now, he’s analyzing maps and weather patterns, and he says that it looks like we might be dealing with a snowfall of up to eight inches next Tuesday, which is Purim day. That would not be the first Purim in memory in which there was significant snowfall.

The fact of the matter is that many of us see Purim as a marker in time that tells us spring is near. I don’t know what it means if it snows on Purim, but one thing is certain: it’s too early for spring! In fact, I can recall times when Purim fell at the end of February and it was a balmy 70 degrees. That can happen this year too, if it’s Hashem’s will.

If it ends up being an icy Purim this year, it might be Dovi’s salt packages that turn this Purim into a less slippery, less dangerous, but truly happy snowy Purim. V’nahafoch hu!

A freilichen Purim to all! 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.