🇵🇸Palestine

Palestine comprises two non-contiguous territories between 31°21′–32°33′N — the West Bank covering roughly 5,655 km² and the Gaza Strip spanning 365 km² along the Mediterranean coast — producing a compressed yet diverse climate gradient across the Levant.

The West Bank landscape rises from the Jordan Valley plunging to approximately −400 m near Jericho (among the lowest inhabited places on Earth) through the central highlands where Ramallah sits at 880 m, Nablus at 550 m, Hebron at 930 m, and Bethlehem at 775 m, creating a dramatic west-to-east topographic descent of over 1,300 m within just 60 km. Gaza's coastal plain lies near sea level stretching 41 km along the Mediterranean.

This extreme relief produces distinct climate zones: hot-summer Mediterranean (Köppen Csa) across the West Bank highlands and Gaza coast with wet winters and hot dry summers, transitioning to hot desert (BWh) in the Jordan Valley around Jericho where temperatures soar and rainfall virtually disappears.

Ramallah averages 8°C in January and 24°C in July with 615 mm of rainfall concentrated almost entirely October through April; occasional winter snowfall dusts the highlands, and the legendary January 2013 Storm Alexa blanketed Ramallah, Bethlehem, and surrounding areas with over 30 cm of snow — the heaviest in decades. Nablus registers 9°C in January and 26°C in July with 550 mm. Hebron at higher elevation records 7°C and 23°C with 480 mm.

Bethlehem averages 8°C and 24°C with 560 mm. Gaza on the Mediterranean coast remains milder at 13°C in January and 26°C in July with 390 mm falling primarily in winter, while humid sea breezes moderate summer heat. Jericho in the Jordan Valley exemplifies extreme desert conditions at 14°C in January and 32°C in July with a mere 150 mm annually, making it one of the hottest and driest inhabited sites in the region.

The all-time temperature range extends from approximately −7°C recorded in the highlands during severe winter storms to over 47°C in the Jordan Valley during extreme summer heat. Major climate events include the severe multi-year drought of 2008–2009 that damaged agriculture and intensified water scarcity, the historic January 2013 Winter Storm Alexa that paralyzed the region with exceptional snowfall, accelerating Dead Sea level decline at roughly 1.0 meter per year threatening the lowest basin on Earth, intensifying Eastern Mediterranean marine heatwaves with sea surface temperatures exceeding 30°C, the severe dry winters of 2020–2021 that further stressed already critical water resources, growing flash-flood risk in wadis as rare rainfall intensifies, and mounting water-security crisis exacerbated by climate change, declining aquifer levels, and regional resource pressures.

Our archive covers 0 Palestinian cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940.