page_title: Geography of Lebanon
section_title: Climate
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of Lebanon / Climate
caption_attribution_description: A view of the town of Bteghrine, lebanon from the huge circular rock (Sheer Al-mabroum) above St. George Church. Photo taken Summer 2005
context_page_description: Lebanon is a small country in the Middle East, located at approximately 33˚N, 35˚E. It stretches along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and its length is almost three times its width. From north to south, the width of its terrain becomes narrower. Lebanon's mountainous terrain, and the economic and religious movements that either originated in the region or crossed through to leave an imprint upon Lebanese society, give form to the country's history.
  The country's role in the region, as indeed in the world at large, was shaped by trade. Lebanon is named "the Pearl of the Middle East." It serves as a link between the Mediterranean world and India and East Asia. The merchants of the region exported oil, grain, textiles, metal work, and pottery through the port cities to Western markets.
  The hilly Mediterranean geography has influenced the history, cuisine, and culture of Lebanon.
context_section_description: Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate characterized by a long, semi-hot, and dry summer, and a cold, rainy and snowy winter. Fall is a transitional season with a  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 warm and humid, with little or no rain. Heavy dews form, which are beneficial to agriculture. The daily range of temperature is not wide. 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 and snowy  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. Snow is common in inland areas and mountains, with temperatures reaching an average of −1 Celsius in December, −5 Celsius in January, and −7 Celsius in February. A hot wind blowing from the Egyptian desert called the khamsin (Arabic for "fifty"), may cause sudden increase in temperatures, mostly in spring. Bitterly cold winds often come from Southern 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 high increase in altitude produces extremely cold 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 as 27 Celsius during the day, 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.  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 or 3,609 feet) 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.
  The Biqa Valley is watered by two rivers that rise in the watershed near Baalbek: the Orontes flowing north (in Arabic it is called Nahr al-Asi, "the Rebel River", because this direction is unusual), and the Litani flowing south into the hill region of the southern Biqa Valley, where it makes an abrupt turn to the west in southern Lebanon and is thereafter called the Al Qasmiyah River. The Orontes continues to flow north into Syria and eventually reaches the Mediterranean in Turkey. Its waters, for much of its course, flow through a channel considerably lower than the surface of the ground. The Nahr Barada, which waters Damascus, has as its source a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.
  Smaller springs and streams serve as tributaries to the principal rivers. Because the rivers and strea
caption: Mount Lebanon
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