🇮🇱Israel

Israel lies between 29°29′ and 33°20′N, a Levantine country covering approximately 22,072 km² on the eastern Mediterranean shore and producing a remarkable climate gradient compressed into a short north–south span. From the snowy slopes of Mount Hermon, rising above 2,200 m on the Israeli-held side (the highest point under Israeli control), and the verdant Galilee in the north, the landscape descends through the central highlands of Samaria and Judea, the coastal plain stretching past Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Ashdod, the Negev desert covering the southern half, and the Dead Sea Rift plunging more than 430 m below sea level, the lowest land surface on Earth.

The result is a tapestry of climate zones: hot-summer Mediterranean Csa on the coast and central highlands, hot semi-arid BSh around the Sea of Galilee, hot desert BWh across the Negev and Arava, and cooler mountain climates on the Hermon massif with reliable winter snowpack.

Tel Aviv sees January highs of 18°C with nights of 10°C and August highs of 30°C, with 580 mm of rainfall falling almost entirely October through April; Jerusalem at about 750 m is notably cooler in winter and at night, with January highs of 13°C and nights of 7°C and August highs of 30°C with nights of 20°C, with 530 mm and occasional winter snow; Haifa on the northern coast records January highs of 18°C and August highs of 32°C with 540 mm; Eilat in the southern Arava exemplifies extreme desert conditions with January highs of 21°C and August highs of 40°C with only 24 mm annual precipitation; Beersheba sits at the desert margin with January highs of 17°C and August highs of 35°C and 190 mm; the Sea of Galilee shore reaches January highs of 18°C and August highs of 38°C; and on Mount Hermon snow covers the peaks in winter and spring.

The all-time temperature range extends from −14.2°C at Merom Golan on the Golan Heights in January 2015 to 54.0°C at Tirat Tzvi in June 1942, though the latter remains disputed; the highest reading since then is 49.9°C at Sedom in July 2019.

Climate events include the 2010 Carmel forest fire that killed 44 people, the multi-year Eastern Mediterranean drought from 1998 to 2012 that drove the Sea of Galilee to record low levels, affecting national water security and freshwater availability. Mediterranean heatwaves have intensified in recent decades, while the Negev wadis remain prone to flash floods when rare heavy rain falls. Eilat's Red Sea corals are unusually heat-tolerant.

Our archive covers 18 Israeli cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Petaẖ Tiqva, with average highs around 32.8°C, while West Jerusalem has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 4°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.5°C.