Dateline Jerusalem — August in Israel is the hottest month of the year. And the most humid. My air conditioner is on 24/7 …when it is working. The A/C repair man was out three times last week. I dread my electricity bill. I sit under the A/C vents, in front of fans, and only leave my apartment when necessary. Necessary means spending hours at my town’s huge mall, called “can-yon” in Hebrew, to get my exercise since it is too hot to walk in town. Of course, it is the perfect place for the “shopaholic” I am to hang out. For a change of scenery, I ride the bus to malls in other cities. It is great being a senior citizen because the bus and train fares are half price.
People stare at me as if I have a weird disease. My round face is flushed red and appears like a leaky water balloon, melting snow cone, or dripping popsicle. My pores ooze like my air conditioner. All this humidity may be good for my complexion, and less expensive than skin lotions and moisturizers. But it isn’t very comfortable walking around wet, as if I just left a swimming pool. After a shower, within seconds I need another towel to dry off.
Not everyone suffers as I do. But lately I have heard a lot of whining about the heat from people who usually do not complain about the weather, or anything. I am used to living in the hot, arid Palmdale/Lancaster/Antelope Valley areas of the Mojave Desert. I can handle the sauna-like heat of the desert. I cannot handle the steam bath humid heat of my town in central Israel. Believe it or not, the hottest part of the day is after 5 p.m.
Although Israel is in a subtropical region, the climate is diverse. Central and northern Israel have hot summers, the coastal plain is humid but mountains are dry, and eastern and southern Israel have hot and arid desert climates. For example, because Jerusalem is a city of hills high above Israel, it is relatively dry and cooler than most areas even when the temperatures soar. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, is located on the Mediterranean Sea and therefore is hot and humid even though it has sea breezes. Be’er Sheva in the southern desert is very hot and dry like the Mojave Desert in California. The Dead Sea, the lowest land elevation on earth, 1,388 feet below sea level, usually has temperatures over 115 degrees Fahrenheit during the day plus humidity. Although Eilat on Israel’s southern tip sits along the Red Sea, its climate is hot and dry.
We might be experiencing a heat wave in Israel the last few weeks, but at least it isn’t the punishing heat and humidity affecting the rest of the region. Iran hit an all time high of 164 degrees Fahrenheit a couple of weeks ago. A prelude to the hell undoubtedly they will experience for wanting to annihilate Israel?
L’hitraot. Shachar