Storm Byron To Soak Israel And Disrupt December Trips

Published on Dec 8, 2025, 2:04 pm CST

9 min read

Key points

Storm Byron is forecast to bring 100 to 150 millimetres of rain across parts of Israel between December 10 and 12
Heavy rain will focus on the Mediterranean coastal strip, the north, Jerusalem corridor, and parts of the Negev with high flash flood risk in wadis
Recent storms already cut off Eilat when Highways 12, 40, and 90 were closed by flooding, showing how quickly desert routes can fail
Airport access to Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport may be slowed by urban flooding, road closures, and power issues rather than full flight shutdowns
Travelers with December trips should add generous buffer to airport transfers, avoid driving through wadis, and watch Israel Meteorological Service alerts closely

Impact

Where Impacts Are Most Likely: Expect the greatest disruption along the coastal plain around Tel Aviv and Haifa, in the Jerusalem hills, and on Negev routes toward Eilat
Best Times To Travel: Aim for daytime driving windows outside the heaviest forecast bands on December 11 and avoid late night road trips on desert highways
Connections And Misconnect Risk: Leave extra time for transfers through Ben Gurion Airport and Ramon Airport because road flooding and traffic jams can break tight itineraries even if flights operate
Onward Travel And Changes: Be ready to reroute via central Israel instead of southern desert corridors, shift tours out of wadis, and accept last minute timing changes
What Travelers Should Do Now: Map alternative routes, confirm hotel and tour flexibility, preload local alert apps, and move high risk drives away from the Thursday peak where possible

Storm Byron is moving east from Greece toward Israel and is expected to turn the middle of this week into a serious stress test for Storm Byron Israel travel between December 10 and 12. Forecasts from the Israel Meteorological Service, IMS, and Israeli media point to widespread heavy rain, 100 to 150 millimetres in some spots, spreading from the north down to the Negev along with strong winds. The focus is the Mediterranean coastal strip, Jerusalem corridor, and desert corridors that feed Eilat, which together cover most classic December itineraries. Travelers need to assume that flash floods, drainage failures, and short notice road closures will be at least as important as pure flight cancellations and should start rebuilding their buffer time and backup plans now.

The core change compared with earlier Greece focused coverage of Storm Byron is simple. Instead of being a distant headline, the storm now has a clear Israel timeline from Wednesday, December 10, through Friday, December 12, with Thursday expected to be the peak, and IMS backed flood risk warnings that explicitly highlight wadis and low lying routes. For anyone connecting through Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), driving between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or planning side trips into the Negev and Arava, this shifts the story from general bad weather to a concrete operational threat that can strand vehicles, cut off towns, and delay airport runs even when runways stay open.

What The Forecast Says For Israel

According to summaries of IMS forecasts reported by outlets such as Haaretz and Jfeed, Storm Byron is expected to reach Israel on Wednesday with rain intensifying overnight and through Thursday. Rain bands should first hit the north and the Mediterranean coastal plain, then sweep south toward the central region, Jerusalem hills, and the northern Negev. Localized totals of 100 to 150 millimetres are possible, especially where slow moving cells park over foothills and urban basins.

Wind gusts of roughly 60 to 80 kilometres per hour are possible along the coast and in exposed areas, strong enough to bring down branches, signage, and weaker power lines but not on their own a reason to shut airports. The bigger concern for travel is that heavy rain will land on already saturated soil and overburdened urban drainage systems after an early season pattern that has already brought flash flooding in several regions.

IMS heavy rain bulletins typically flag a high risk of flash floods in southern and eastern wadis whenever this combination appears, and the current wording points in the same direction, particularly for desert valleys in the Negev and Arava. In practice this means that dry riverbeds and low dips in desert roads can flood very quickly, sometimes within minutes, cutting what looked like a simple two or three hour drive into an overnight detour.

Lessons From Eilat's Weekend Cutoff

Travelers do not have to imagine how fast things can escalate. Over the weekend, a separate rare desert storm effectively cut off Eilat when police closed Highways 12, 40, and 90, blocking all road access for hours as heavy rain and runoff turned stretches of highway into rivers and damaged infrastructure. For much of that window, the only way in or out for many visitors was via Ramon Airport (ETM), with local emergency services managing rescues and detours.

Reports from Israeli outlets describe how quickly that closure unfolded, starting with localized flooding, moving to rolling closures of specific junctions, then becoming an all routes lockdown as conditions worsened. The episode is a clear proof of concept that desert access to a major resort city can be severed for most of a day by extreme rain even when skies clear a few hours later. With Storm Byron forecast to bring another round of intense rainfall to many of the same southern corridors later this week, tour operators and self drive visitors should assume that a repeat is possible, not a freak outlier.

For package tours that link Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and a Negev or Eilat extension, this means that the desert leg is now the weakest link in the chain. If weather hits while groups are already in the south, they may be stuck for a day or more until police reopen key highways and check the integrity of bridges and culverts. If the storm peaks while groups are still in central Israel, operators may have to drop or delay the Eilat segment entirely rather than risk sending coaches into a forecast red zone.

Airports, Trains, And Urban Flooding

At this stage, there is no sign that Ben Gurion Airport will shut down for Storm Byron, but previous heavy winter storms have shown how quickly ground access can become the limiting factor. Past events in Tel Aviv and central Israel have seen 50 millimetres or more fall in a few hours, flooding major arteries like Namir Road and Rokach Boulevard, overwhelming drains, and forcing police to redirect traffic away from underpasses and low lying highway sections. Similar patterns in the coming days would not necessarily ground flights, but they would dramatically lengthen the time needed to reach or leave the airport, especially in peak hours.

Israel Railways has also faced disruptions in previous flood events when water ponding near tracks or on access roads forced temporary suspensions. If Byron delivers the forecast totals along key coastal and Jerusalem corridor lines, travelers should be ready for slower trains, partial suspensions, or bus bridges, all of which eat into already tight transfer windows.

Ramon Airport is more exposed to the specific desert flood problem. The weekend closures highlighted how all surface access routes can be cut at the same time, leaving the terminal operational but effectively isolated except for passengers already in Eilat. With more heavy rain on the way, travelers using Ramon for domestic hops to or from central Israel should not assume that they can always connect the last leg by road in time for an onward international flight.

How Storm Byron Behaved In Greece

Storm Byron's track across Greece offers another warning sign. Greek and international reporting describes how the system triggered Red Code alerts, unleashed torrential rain, and caused significant flooding in multiple regions, including Attica, Thessaly, and several islands. In one case, a 24 hour rainfall measurement reached 251 millimetres in Nea Peramos, among the highest on record since 2008.

That is not a guaranteed template for Israel, since local topography and drainage are different, but it proves the storm can produce serious rainfall totals over a short period when conditions line up. For travel planning purposes, this makes the 100 to 150 millimetre forecast bands for Israel look entirely plausible rather than conservative.

For travelers who read our earlier [Storm Byron Batters Greece, Testing Island Ferries And Flights](/news/2025-12-06-storm-byron-batters-greece-testing-island-ferries-flights) coverage, the Israel phase is best seen as a second act. Instead of ferry cancellations and island air links, the main assets at risk now are highways, wadis, and airport surface access, but the underlying problem is the same, short intense bursts of rain hitting vulnerable infrastructure.

Practical Advice For December Trips

For trips in the window from December 10 to 12, the safest move is to build in redundancy. Anyone with an international departure from Ben Gurion should treat the Thursday peak as a potential choke point, add at least an extra hour of buffer to normal transfer times, and avoid stacking separate tickets that rely on tight connections through Tel Aviv. When possible, keep at least one extra night in central Israel between a desert leg and a long haul flight rather than trying to connect directly from Eilat or the Negev.

Self drive travelers should audit their routes immediately and identify any stretches that cross wadis or low lying desert segments. If a planned drive to or from Eilat runs through Highways 12, 40, or 90 during the storm window, it is worth reshuffling the itinerary to move that leg earlier in the week or push it to the trailing weekend, or even to drop it if flexibility is limited. No sightseeing plan is worth driving into a forecast flood risk corridor when police and IMS are already warning of possible closures.

In cities, travelers should expect localized street flooding, longer taxi and rideshare times, and the possibility that some public transport routes will divert around trouble spots. Hotels in known flood prone districts may temporarily shut basement facilities or parts of their inventory. This is not a reason to cancel a Tel Aviv or Jerusalem city break outright, but it is another reason to stay flexible on check in and check out times and to confirm that hotel contact details and alert channels are up to date.

As the storm gets closer, the most important tools are local ones. IMS bulletins, municipal alert channels, and live updates from police and transport authorities will all move faster than foreign advisories. International travelers should bookmark the IMS English site, follow at least one major Israeli outlet for liveblogs, and keep an eye on airline and airport feeds for any signs that surface access is degrading even before flights change. A good evergreen companion read is a general guide on winter weather and flash flood travel in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as a future [Guide To Winter Storm And Flood Travel In The Eastern Mediterranean](/guides/winter-storm-flood-travel-eastern-mediterranean), which can help frame Byron as one example in a wider seasonal pattern.

If the forecast improves and Byron weakens, many of these precautions will simply convert into a bit of extra margin and peace of mind. If the storm verifies at the upper end of the rain range, having pre built buffers, alternative routes, and flexible bookings will be the difference between a frustrating delay and a major trip failure.