After a day of heat wave, with temperatures felt at levels not seen for years in February, temperatures are expected to drop Monday in the center and in the south, and the weather will be generally clear. Winds will strengthen during the day, and hazy conditions are possible. At night it will become cloudy, with intermittent rain and isolated thunderstorms expected in the north and in the center.
On Tuesday, intermittent rain will continue in the north and center, accompanied by thunderstorms. Local rain is expected in the northern Negev, mostly light. Gusty winds will blow, and toward the afternoon the rain and winds will gradually weaken. Temperatures will drop significantly again and return to seasonal norms.
On Wednesday, the weather will be partly cloudy, with no significant change in temperatures. On Thursday, temperatures will rise. The weather will be partly cloudy to cloudy, and strong easterly winds will blow in the northern mountains in the morning.
Forecast temperatures for today and tonight: Jerusalem 12-21, Tel Aviv 14-25, Haifa 17-23, Safed 11-17, Katzrin 12-21, Tiberias 13-22, Nazareth 14-21, Afula 11-22, Beit Shean 13-24, Lod 14-26, Ashdod 13-26, Ein Gedi 19-28, Beersheba 10-25, Mitzpe Ramon 15-24, Eilat 20-27.
Dr. Amir Givati, director of the Israel Meteorological Service, said Sunday morning in an interview with ynet that “the entire first half of February is expected to be warm, and it seems winter has disappeared. We are likely to see spring begin much earlier as the years go by. The nature of the Israeli winter is set to change. Rainy days are becoming fewer.”
On Sunday at around 4 p.m., the Meteorological Service reported that temperatures in the northern Negev reached 30 degrees Celsius, including 30.1 degrees at the Besor Farm station, while readings in the coastal plain ranged between 28.5 and 29 degrees. The measurement at Besor broke a 39-year heat record for early February, dating back to February 1987. A similar record was broken at Ein HaHoresh in the Sharon region, where 28.6 degrees were recorded.
Earlier, temperatures of 28.2 degrees were measured along Tel Aviv’s seafront, 28.9 degrees in the city’s interior and 28 degrees in Beit Dagan. Such high temperatures in the first third of February were recorded in Beit Dagan and Tel Aviv only in 2003, 23 years ago. The sharp rise in temperatures is the result of a dry southerly airflow reaching the region.