06. Climate and Seasons
Climate and Seasons
1. The variations of sunshine and rain which, with us, extend throughout the year, are in Palestine confined chiefly to the latter part of autumn and the winter. During all the rest of the year the sky is almost uninterruptedly cloudless, and rain very rarely falls. The autumnal rains usually commence at the latter end of October, or beginning of November; not suddenly, but by degrees, which gives opportunity to the husbandman to sow his wheat and barley. The rains come mostly from the west (Luk 12:54) and south-west, and continue for two or three days at a time, falling chiefly in the night; the wind then changes to the north or east, and several days of fine weather succeed. During the months of November and December the rains continue to fall heavily; afterwards they return at longer intervals, and are not so heavy; but at no period during the winter do they entirely cease to occur. Rain continues to fall more or less during the month of March, but is afterwards very rare. Morning mists occur as late as May; but rain almost never. Rain in the time of harvest was as incomprehensible to an ancient Jew as snow in summer (Pro 26:1; 1Sa 12:17; Amo 4:7). The “early” and the “latter” rains, for which the Jewish husbandmen awaited with longing (Pro 16:15; Jas 5:7), seem to have been the first showers of autumn, which revived the parched and thirsty soil, and prepared it for the seed; and the later showers of spring which continued to refresh and forward the ripening crops and the vernal products of the fields.
2. The cold of winter is not severe, and the ground is never frozen. Snow falls more or less. In the low-lying plains but little falls, and it disappears early in the day; in the higher lands, as at Jerusalem, it often falls, chiefly in January and February, to the depth of a foot or more; but even there it does not lie long on the ground. Thunder and lightning are frequent in the winter.
3. In the plains and valleys the heat of summer is oppressive, but not in the more elevated tracts, as at Jerusalem, except when the south wind (Sirocco) blows (Luk 12:55). In such high grounds the nights are cool, often with heavy dew. The total absence of rain in summer soon destroys the verdure of the fields, and gives to the general landscape, even in the high country, an aspect of drought and barrenness No green thing remains but the foliage of the scattered fruit trees, and occasional vineyards and fields of millet. In autumn the whole land becomes dry and parched; the cisterns are nearly empty, and all nature, animate and inanimate, looks forward with longing for the return of the rainy season.
4. In the hill-country the season of harvest is later than in the plains of the Jordan and of the sea-coast. The barley harvest is about a fortnight earlier than that of wheat. In the plain of the Jordan the wheat harvest is early in May; in the plains of the Coast and of Esdraelon it is towards the latter end of that month, and in the hills, not until June. The general vintage is in September, but the first grapes ripen in July, and from that time the towns are well supplied with this fruit.
5. The climate of Palestine has always been considered healthy, and the inhabitants have generally enjoyed a high average duration of life. Jerusalem, in particular, from its great elevation, clear sky, and bracing atmosphere, should be a healthy spot, and is usually so esteemed.