August 2004 Summary:

    * August 2004 was slightly cooler than average in the interior of Israel and in the mountains, while it was close to average along the coast. In Jerusalem temperatures were 1 to 1.5 degrees lower than average in the day and night. The lowest daytime high was 25.2, 4 degrees below average. Only 5 days in Jerusalem reached or passed 30 degrees, compared to an average of 11 days. The highest daytime high was 30.8 degrees. This was the least warm August in the last 7 years.

July 2004 Summary:

    * July 2004 was slightly warmer than average, but quite close to average, by a half degree to one degree C. This continues the current 9 year trend of a warm July, but this year was much more comfortable than most of the others.

July 16, 2004:

    * Altocumulus clouds filled the skies of Israel for most of the day. This is a rare event, as middle clouds are never seen in a typical Israeli summer.

June 2004 Summary:

    * June 2004 was slightly cooler than average. In the coastal areas this was the coolest June in the last 10 years.

June 19-20, 2004:

    * A weak desert low that formed in Libya moved eastward, combined over Egypt with a Red Sea trough and affected the Middle East. Along with the low moved a wave of high mid-level (700 - 500 mb) humidity that originated from tropical africa when the low was in western Libya. This is very unusual for the summer. On June 19 altocumulus clouds formed in central and northern Israel with light rain in places. On June 20 a thunderstorm in Sinai brushed the southern city of Eilat, and caused flash floods in the Sinai desert.

2003-2004 season summary:

    * This was a relatively weak rain season. Winter was very short, and virtually ended with the winter storm of February 14th. There was hardly any more precipitation after that. At the end of February a heat wave broke the monthly record, with 34 degrees in the coastal areas and in the southern city of Eilat. Two records were broken in March, the highest 850mb temperature (almost 25) and highest 500mb temperature (-7.5). Autumn and spring were not very active. But thanks to the immense system at the end of January, almost all areas from Hadera northwards (excluding the Jordan River Valley) reached and even passed the annual average precipitation. Central Israel finished the season with 80 to 90 percent of the annual average precipitation.

May 30, 2004:

    * An active warm front from a desert (sharav) low caused weak local thunderstorms to form in some parts of central and northern Israel during the morning. Light rain fell in many places. After the passing of the front the temperatures soared up to 33 in Jerusalem, 38 in Tel-Aviv and in the northern valleys, 40 in the Shfela and the Negev Desert, and 43 in the Arava. The heat broke not much later that day.

May 9-10, 2004:

    * Very intense heat affected Israel especially during the night between May 9 and 10, when 37 degrees were measured in Kibbutz Tzora in the Shfela before sunrise and almost 32 in Jerusalem. During the daytime, 38 degrees were measured in Tel-Aviv and 45 in Sedom, close to the May record of 46. The heat broke after noon with huge temperature drops. Mitzpe Ramon in the Negev Desert saw a drop of 11 degrees in one hour, and a 10 degree drop in one hour was recorded in Kibbutz Tzora. In the evening the temperature in Jerusalem was 15, 20 degrees lower than in noon. The cause of the heat was a deep desert low, with a recorded pressure of 996 mb (in Bet-Dagan, the official weather station of Israel), close to the May record of 995 mb set in May 29, 2003.

May 2, 2004:

    * Thunderstorms developed over much of central and southern Israel in the early morning. The storms were accompanied by brief moderate to heavy rain, and were not severe. This was the first occasion of spring storms in Israel this season.

March 14, 2004:

    * A hailstorm developed over Jerusalem and dumped very heavy (but not very large) hail for 25 minutes. It was not accompanied by thunder or lightning.

February 14-15, 2004:

    * A winter storm swept through Israel and brought heavy snow to the mountains of northern and central Israel. The snow fell for about 30 hours in northern Israel and accumulated up to 55 centimeters (22 inches). In central Israel the snow fell for about 20 hours and accumulated up to 25 centimeters (10 inches). 10 to 18 cm accumulated in Jerusalem.

January 23-27, 2004:

    * One of the wettest storm systems on record hit northern Israel, where up to 230 milimeters of rain fell. Central Israel missed the bulk of the rain, with 50 to 80 milimeters of rain. Every area in northern Israel totaled the entire monthly average in these 5 days, and some of these areas already passed the annual average precipitation, with two more months of winter and four months left in the rainy season.

December 2, 2003:

    * A combination of a Red Sea trough and a low pressure area in the eastern Mediterranean caused thunderstorms to develop almost everywhere in southern and central Israel. Flash floods occured in Bnei-Brak near Tel-Aviv and also in the Negev Desert and Dead Sea area, where a school-bus was swept away by a flash flood and was rescued by military helicopters.

November 23-24, 2003:

    * An active Red Sea trough brought thunderstorms, some severe, to the eastern parts of Israel, including the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, the Jordan River Valley and the Golan. Little rain fell but the storms were very electricly active, with lightning every 2 to 4 seconds. In the northern Jordan River Valley hail up to 4 cm in diameter fell.

November 8-12, 2003:

    * The first winter low pressure system (a Cyprus low) affected the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, bringing ample rains to many parts of central and northern Israel. Some areas received up to 80 mm of rain, which is close to the entire monthly average. The system was accompanied by many thunderstorms.

October 2-3, 2003:

    * A 500mb trough came down from eastern Europe with cold air aloft (-13 to -15 degrees C), and even though there was no distinct surface weather system, just a deepening of the Persian trough which should have already left us during September, it was enough to spark several thunderstorms especially in northern and north-eastern Israel. The Mediterranean Sea which is still very warm (around 28C), relatively warm surface temperatures, and a very high tropopause (16-18 km) compared to winter, helped some of these storms become severe with incredible amounts of rain and frequent lightning. On October 2nd, one such severe thunderstorm dumped 64 milimeters of rain in Kibbutz Dafna in the northern Hula Valley in just 30 minutes, which is a new record for Israel. That's a rate of 128 mm (5.12 inches) an hour! The same storm packed wind gusts of 100 kph. 71 mm were recorded in Tel Dan not far from there, 40 of them in just 20 minutes. That's three times the entire October average. Local thunderstorms developed again in the following morning, both in northern and central Israel. 24 mm were recorded in Ashkelon in the southern Mediterranean coast in just 25 minutes.

September 5-6, 2003:

    * A low pressure over eastern Europe along with a deep Persian trough brought a cool spell over Israel, for the first time since spring. Temperatures dropped to as much as 4 degrees below average in Jerusalem, and many areas in central and northern Israel experienced light rain or sprinkles. Although it was a summer weather system, the low temperatures and clouds were definately the first signs of autumn.

June-August 2003 Summary:

    * The summer of 2003 was warmer than average, but compared to the last decade which saw a warming trend during the summer months, it was comfortable. June's temperatures were average to slightly below average, July's were average to slightly above average, and August's were above average. Even though on average there is no measurable precipitation during the summer anywhere in Israel, this summer there was not even one event of "cool" light rain or sprinkle, which usualy occurs at least once or twice. On the other hand there were two days of rare warm-mass thunderstorm events in the middle of June, and from mid-July to the beginning of August high humidity in the middle and high levels affected the Middle-East, which resulted in extensive thunderstorm activity in Saudi Arabia and even Jordan (some of the storms were even visible from Israel), middle clouds in southern Israel and high clouds in the rest of the country. The source of this humidity was a combination of the Indian monsoon in the horn of Africa and in Yemen, and a high pressure center that was situated over Iraq, which caused the southerly flow that brought humidity from Ethiopia and Sudan and from the Indian Ocean northward to our region. This is a very unusual pattern. Mid-level humidity is virtually non-existant in Israel and Jordan during an average summer.

Watches and Warnings:

May 29, 2004:

* 23:00 - Flash flood watch for Eilat and the southern Negev Desert, in affect for May 30, 2004 1200 until 2000 local time.

May 9, 2004:

* 21:00 - Extreme heat stress watch for the Dead Sea and the Arava, in affect for May 10, 2004 0900 until 1700 local time.

May 2, 2004:

* 04:15 - Flash flood warning for Jerusalem, the Judean Mountains, and the Judean Desert.

May 1, 2004:

* 14:15 - Severe thunderstorm watch for Jerusalem and the Judean Mountains, the Negev Desert, the Judean Desert and the Arava, in affect for Sunday, May 2 from 0600 until 1500 local time.

* 14:15 - Flash flood watch for the Negev Desert, the Dead Sea, the Judean Desert and the Arava, in affect for Sunday, May 2 from 0600 until 1600 local time.

April 5, 2004:

* 10:40 - Flash flood watch for the Negev Desert, the Jordan River Valley, the Dead Sea, the Judean Desert and the Arava, in affect for Tuesday, April 6 from 0800 until 2000 local time.

* 10:40 - Severe thunderstorm watch for central and southern Israel in affect for Tuesday, April 6 from 0800 until 1800 local time.

February 14, 2004:

* 13:30 - Winter storm warning for all areas higher than 600 meters in central Israel.

* 13:30 - Winter storm warning for all areas higher than 600 meters in northern Israel.

* 10:00 - Winter storm warning for all areas higher than 700 meters in northern Israel.

February 13, 2004:

* 09:30 - Winter storm watch in affect for Saturday, February 14 starting 0300 local time.

February 12, 2004:

* 08:00 - Winter storm watch in affect for Saturday, February 14 starting 0500 local time.

February 5, 2004:

* 14:30 - Flash flood warning for the Arava, the Dead Sea and the eastern Negev Desert.

January 31, 2004:

* 21:30 - Severe thunderstorm watch for all areas of central and northern Israel in affect until February 1, 1500 local time.

December 1, 2003:

* 21:00 - Severe thunderstorm watch for central and northern Israel in affect starting December 2 0600 until December 2 1100, local time.

* 21:00 - Flash flood watch for central and northern Israel including the northern Arava and north-western Negev Desert in affect starting December 2 0600 until December 2 1100, local time.

November 24, 2003:

* 15:30 - Flash flood warning for the southern Judean Mountains and north-eastern Negev Desert.

November 23, 2003:

* 22:30 - Severe thunderstorm warning for the Golan Heights, Hula Valley and northern Bikaa.

* 22:00 - Flash flood warning for eastern Jerusalem, the Judean Desert, and the Dead Sea.

November 23, 2003:

* 9:30 - Flash flood watch for eastern and southern Israel, from the Golan Heights through the Bikaa (Jordan River Valley), Judean Desert, Judean Mountains including Jerusalem, Negev Desert and Arava.

* 9:30 - Severe thunderstorm watch for eastern and southern Israel, from the Golan Heights through the Bikaa (Jordan River Valley), Judean Desert, Judean Mountains including Jerusalem, Negev Desert and Arava.

November 22, 2003:

* 10:00 - High wind advisory for all areas of Israel. Gusts of up to gale force are expected in the valleys.

October 2, 2003:

* 13:00 - Flash flood warning for the Golan Heights, northern Hula Valley and northern Upper Galilee.

* 14:00 - Severe thunderstorm warning for the Golan Heights, northern Hula Valley and northern Upper Galilee.