Fresh winds from the Mediterranean Coast, from Gaza northwards, began to blow throughout Israel Tuesday morning, breaking the heat wave that sent thermometers soaring and caused electric brownouts.
Temperatures on Tuesday still will be hotter than usual, but the breeze gives relief from the windless and sulky heat wave that peaked Monday evening. Temperatures in Eilat were as high as 50 Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). Evening lows were a warm 30 degrees C (86 F).
Even on the usually cool Hermon mountain range in the Golan Heights, the thermometer reached 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) on Monday, dipping to a more pleasant 16 C (61 F) at night.
Weather buffs reported that the record high temperature in Israeli was recorded at 54 C in June 1942 at Kibbutz Tirat Tzvi, in the Jordan Valley, bordering Jordan. However, one weather blogger said that actual high was one degree less, according to a printed thermograph.
For the rest of this week, temperatures will continue to drift downwards, and there may even be a few raindrops in the north and central regions Friday morning, with temperatures in the mid to upper 20s Celsius (low 80s Fahrenheit) in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Haifa area.