January was drier than usual
Last month saw lower than average rainfall, with Tel Aviv seeing only 46 mm of rain—about 30% of the average. The north experienced more rain than other parts of the country, with the Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee seeing 100-150 mm of rainfall.
February had begun, bringing with it low temperatures across the country after a drier than usual month of January.
Precipitation in January was lower than usual, except in the Be'er Sheva-Arad area. Tel Aviv saw only 46 mm of rain, constituting a mere 30 percent of the average for the first month of the year.
According to the Israel Meteorological Service (IMS), the lack of rainfall was especially noticable in the central and southern coastal areas, where 40-60 mm of rain fell, which is only about 30-50 percent of the average.
The central mountains experienced 50-70 percent of the month's average of rainfall. The northern Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee experienced 100-150 mm of rainfall, which is 50-80 percent of the month's average.
The northern coastal area saw 100-130 mm of rainfall, which is 60-80 percent of the month's average. The northern Negev, which saw 35-55 mm of rainfall, is the only area in the country that had more rainfall than the monthly average.
The IMS also noted that, compared to the past, the diminished amount of rainfall in January was not that unusual, as there have been years where the lack of rainfall was much more pronounced, like in 2009 and 2014.
By the end of January, the amount of cumulative rainfall from the start of the rainy season in the north was closer to the yearly average. In the northern coastal area it is lower than average (90-100 percent), while in parts of the Galilee and the northern valleys it was slightly above average (105-115 percent).
Other parts of the country experienced a shortage and the amount of cumulative rainfall in the central and southern parts of the country was about 70-85 percent of the average compared to years before.
The cities with the largest amount of rainfall registered throughout the rainy season are Haifa with 443 mm, Tel Aviv with 299 mm, Jerusalem with 260 mm and Be'er Sheva with 89 mm.
