The climate in Israel

Climate zone: Subtropics of the northern hemisphere

For 8 months, the average temperatures are over 25 degrees. Pleasant water temperatures of up to 26 degrees even invite you to bathe in the warm season. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Southern District. The coldest is Haifa. Due to the warmer temperatures, the best time for traveling is in August. Less attractive are the cold months from December to March.

Temperature records of the last 73 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1950 to January 2023 was reported by the Eilat weather station. In September 2020, the record temperature of 48.9 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 8 weather stations in Israel below 930 meters altitude, was recorded in 1963 with an average temperature of 29.8 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 27.7 degrees Celsius.

The coldest day in these 73 years was reported by the Bet Dagan weather station. Here the temperature dropped to -1.4 °C in January 2008. Bet Dagan lies at an altitude of 30 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1992 with an average temperature of 11.1 °C. In Israel, it is usual to have about 3.1 degrees more at 14.2 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in January 1974. With 16.9 mm per day, the Tel Aviv weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 73 years.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1988 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 1 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1988 to 2022, there were only these 1 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Eilat). From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was August 2010 at 36.2 °C. January 1989 was the coldest month with an average temperature of 12.6 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 24.7 °C in the years after 1988 and about 26.4 °C in the last years before 2022. So in less than 35 years, it has increased by about 1.7 °C. This trend only applies to the selected 1 weather stations in Israel. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data from the individual measuring stations are based on the archives of the German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements. In order to determine a representative national average, average values were first calculated for each part of the country, which were then summarized at the national level. Thus, if a disproportionate number of weather stations are located in a small area, their number does not affect the national average. There are 9 stations in Israel itself. In 3 cases, neighboring but nearby weather stations were also used to obtain more accurate values.