It was a Saturday night when the temperature dropped. Beirut’s skies condensed with the thick gray clouds of January. Talk of wild weather started to snowball off the tongues of Beirutis. Bridges, buildings, highways and walls collapsed, floods reached peoples’ beds, blackouts affecting the whole country occurred and water disappeared from taps. Schools and universities closed their doors, grocery stores were left with empty shelves. At least five people died and the Minister of Interior advised citizens not to leave their houses. No, this was not a tsunami, an earthquake, or the apocalypse; it was just another winter storm that hit with a bit more force this year. The storm, dubbed arous (bride) by the Lebanese, did not take Lebanon by surprise. This storm, which descended from Russia, was well forecasted; however, in the season of fabricating election laws Lebanese politicians paid little heed to the bride’s wedding march. As
