Temperatures in April were significantly higher than average, with last month going down as the hottest April since measurements had begun in many areas of Israel.
Dr. Amos Porat, the head of the Climate Department in Israel's Meteorological Service, said temperatures measured during the day in the mountains and the valleys in northern Israel were higher than average (measured between the years 1995-2009) by 4-5 degrees Celsius. In the coastal plain and southern Israel, temperatures during the day surpassed the average by 3.5-4 degrees Celsius.
At night time, temperatures were higher than average in most areas of Israel by 1.5-3 degrees Celsius, while the central Israel mountains saw temperatures 3-4 degrees Celsius higher.
In the coastal plain, the shfela region, the Jezreel Valley and the Negev, last month marked the hottest April since measurements began 50-70 years ago (measurements began at the Beit Jimal station as early as 1921). In other areas of the country, it was the second hottest month of April, following only April of 1989.
Despite the high temperatures, some areas of Israel did see some rain on April 9-13. The Galilee, the Golan Heights and the Hula Valley had 30-50 millimeters of rain. The northern Negev and the northern part of the Dead Sea experienced 20-40 mm of rain, but there were some areas that registered less than 10 mm, like Hadera, Zikhron Ya'akov, the northern coastal plain (north of Nahariya), the southern coastal plain and the Jezreel Valley.
The rainfall was close to the monthly average in northern Israel, lower than the average in the central Israel mountains and parts of the coastal plain, and significantly higher than the average in southern Israel.
However, the precipitation did not significantly change the annual trend - overall, there was less rainfall in northern Israel than the annual average, while in central Israel the overall amount of precipitation was close to the average, and in southern Israel there was a higher level of rainfall than the average.