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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate characterized by a long,
hot, and dry summer, and cool, rainy winter. Fall is a transitional
season with a gradual lowering of temperature and little rain;
spring occurs when the winter rains cause the vegetation to revive.
Topographical variation creates local modifications of the basic
climatic pattern. Along the coast, summers are hot and humid, with
little or no rain. Heavy dews form, which are beneficial to
agriculture. The daily range of temperature is not wide, although
temperatures may reach above 38° C in the daytime and below
16° C at
night. A west wind provides relief during the afternoon and
evening; at night the wind direction is reversed, blowing from the
land out to sea.
Winter is the rainy season, with major precipitation falling
after December. Rainfall is generous but is concentrated during
only a few days of the rainy season, falling in heavy cloudbursts.
The amount of rainfall varies greatly from one year to another.
Occasionally, there are frosts during the winter, and about once
every fifteen years a light powdering of snow falls as far south as
Beirut. A hot wind blowing from the Egyptian desert called the
khamsin (Arabic for fifty), may provide a warming trend
during the fall, but more often occurs during the spring. Bitterly
cold winds may come from Europe. Along the coast the proximity to
the sea provides a moderating influence on the climate, making the
range of temperatures narrower than it is inland, but the
temperatures are cooler in the northern parts of the coast where
there is also more rain.
In the Lebanon Mountains the gradual increase in altitude
produces colder winters with more precipitation and snow. The
summers have a wider daily range of temperatures and less humidity.
In the winter, frosts are frequent and snows heavy; in fact, snow
covers the highest peaks for much of the year. In the summer,
temperatures may rise as high during the daytime as they do along
the coast, but they fall far lower at night. Inhabitants of the
coastal cities, as well as visitors, seek refuge from the
oppressive humidity of the coast by spending much of the summer in
the mountains, where numerous summer resorts are located. Both the
khamsin and the north winter wind are felt in the Lebanon
Mountains. The influence of the Mediterranean Sea is abated by the
altitude and, although the precipitation is even higher than it is
along the coast, the range of temperatures is wider and the winters
are more severe.
The Biqa Valley and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains are shielded
from the influence of the sea by the Lebanon Mountains. The result
is considerably less precipitation and humidity and a wider
variation in daily and yearly temperatures. The khamsin does
not occur in the Biqa Valley, but the north winter wind is so
severe that the inhabitants say it can "break nails." Despite the
relatively low altitude of the Biqa Valley (the highest point of
which, near Baalbek, is only 1,100 meters) more snow falls there
than at comparable altitudes west of the Lebanon Mountains.
Because of their altitudes, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains receive
more precipitation than the Biqa Valley, despite their remoteness
from maritime influences. Much of this precipitation appears as
snow, and the peaks of the Anti-Lebanon, like those of the Lebanon
Mountains, are snow-covered for much of the year. Temperatures are
cooler than in the Biqa Valley.
Data as of December 1987
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