Rainfall of the Land

The amount of rainfall generally depends upon height above sea level. The mountains attract more rain than the lowlands. They also tend to cut off rain-bearing winds and prevent them reaching inland. In Israel / Syria, the result is more rain in the high mountains north of Galilee (29-60 inches / 750-1,500mm each year) than in the hils of Judea (20-29 inches / 500-750mm). The rainfal total lessens rapidly going south. By the time we reach Beersheba it is less than 8 inches / 200mm. South again, desert conditions apply all the way into the Sinai peninsula.

The fall-off in rainfall going both inland and downhill to the Jordan Valley is even more rapid. The average rainfall for Jerusalem is about 20 inches /500mm, whereas at Jericho, 15 miles / 25km to the east but 3,200 ft / 1,00 meters lower, it is barely 4 inches / 100mm. It then rises again on the east side of the Jordan, so that there is a tongue of desert extending north up the Jordan Valley from the Dead Sea, but a tongue of well-watered hill country extending south on the east side of the Jordan all the way from Lebanon to Edom.

No wonder that two and a half of the original twelve tribes decided that the land on the east side of the Jordan Valley was as good for their cattle as the land on the west, and asked if they could settle there rather than across the river in the land God promised (Numbers 32). In later years, this land - the land of Gilead - became famous for it fertility. Its hills brought as much rain as that of the hills of Judea, which are nearer the coast but not as high.

Although the northern part of Palestine seems to have a good amount of rainfall (similar to that of southern Britain, for example) the average is very deceptive. There are in fact great variations in the total from year to year. In Jerusalem where the average is 20 inches / 500mm, there have been years with as little as 10 inches / 250mm and as much as 42 inches / 1,075mm during the past century. This means that the margin of the desert is not fixed. In some years the margin withdraws east and south. In other years it overruns the area and there is drought and famine. These exceptionally wet and exceptionally dry years play a great part in the Bible story. They constantly remind God's people that they depend on Him.

Rainfall
Dew
Winter Rains
Temperature

Structures of the Land Climate of the Land Vegetation of the Land Resources of the Land Regions of the Land