Editing Geography of Lebanon (section)

==Climate==
{{See also|Climate change in the Middle East and North Africa}}[[File:Koppen-Geiger_Map_v2_LBN_1991–2020.svg|thumb|315x315px|A [[Köppen climate classification]] map of Lebanon]]Lebanon has a [[Mediterranean climate]] characterized by a long, hot, and dry summer, and a cool, rainy winter.<ref name=":0" /> Fall is a transitional season with a lowering of temperature and little rain; spring occurs when the winter rains cause the vegetation to revive.<ref name=":0" /> Topographical variation creates local modifications of the basic climatic pattern.<ref name=":0" /> Along the coast, summers are warm and humid, with little or no rain.<ref name=":0" /> Heavy dews form, which are beneficial to agriculture. The daily range of temperature is not wide.<ref name=":0" /> A west wind provides relief during the afternoon and evening; at night the wind direction is reversed, blowing from the land out to sea.<ref name=":0" />

Winter is the rainy season, with major precipitation falling after December.<ref name=":0" /> Rainfall is generous but is concentrated during only a few days of the rainy season, falling in heavy cloudbursts.<ref name=":0" /> The amount of rainfall varies greatly from one year to another.<ref name=":0" /> A hot wind blowing from the Egyptian desert called the [[khamsin]] (Arabic for "fifty"), may provide a warming trend during the fall but more often occurs during the spring.<ref name=":0" /> Bitterly cold winds may come from Southern Europe.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />

In the [[Lebanon Mountains]] the gradual increase in altitudes produces extremely cold winters with more precipitation and snow.<ref name=":0" /> The summers have a wider daily range of temperatures and less humidity.<ref name=":0" /> In the winter, frosts are frequent and snows heavy; in fact, snow covers the highest peaks for much of the year.<ref name=":0" /> In the summer, temperatures may rise as high during the daytime as they do along the coast, but they fall far lower at night.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" />

The [[Beqaa Valley]] and the [[Anti-Lebanon Mountains]] are shielded from the influence of the sea by the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" /> The result is considerably less precipitation and humidity and a wider variation in daily and yearly temperatures.<ref name=":0" /> The khamsin does not occur in the Beqaa Valley, but the north winter wind is so severe that the inhabitants say it can "break nails".<ref name=":0" /> Despite the relatively low altitude of the Beqaa Valley (the highest point of which, near [[Baalbek]], is only {{convert|1100|m|ft|0|sp=us|disp=or}}) more snow falls there than at comparable altitudes west of the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" />

Because of their altitudes, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains receive more precipitation than the Beqaa Valley, despite their remoteness from maritime influences.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> Temperatures are cooler than in the Beqaa Valley.<ref name=":0" />

The Beqaa Valley is watered by two rivers that rise in the watershed near Baalbek: the [[Orontes river|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,<ref name=":0" /> where it makes an abrupt turn to the west in [[southern Lebanon]]. The river’s lower course is known as Qāsimiyyah.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-12-01 |title=Litani River {{!}} Lebanon, Middle East, Map, & UN Resolution {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Litani-River-Lebanon |access-date=2024-12-02 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> The Orontes continues to flow north into [[Syria]] and eventually reaches the Mediterranean in [[Turkey]].<ref name=":0" /> Its waters, for much of its course, flow through a channel considerably lower than the surface of the ground.<ref name=":0" /> The Nahr Barada, which waters [[Damascus]], has as its source a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" />

Smaller springs and streams serve as tributaries to the principal rivers.<ref name=":0" /> Because the rivers and streams have such steep gradients and are so fast moving, they are erosive instead of depository in nature.<ref name=":0" /> This process is aided by the soft character of the limestone that composes much of the mountains, the steep slopes of the mountains, and the heavy rainstorms.<ref name=":0" /> The only permanent lake is [[Lake Qaraoun]], about ten kilometers east of [[Jezzine]].<ref name=":0" /> There is one seasonal lake, fed by springs, on the eastern slopes of the Lebanon Mountains near Yammunah, about {{convert|40|km|mi|0}} southeast of Tripoli.<ref name=":0" />

Temperatures are rising in Lebanon as a part of [[Climate change|global warming]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Taher |first1=Hanadi |title=Climate Change and Economic Growth in Lebanon |journal=International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy |date=23 July 2019 |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=20–24 |doi=10.32479/ijeep.7806 |s2cid=200071211 |id={{ProQuest|2288759604}} |url=https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijeep/article/view/7806 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Lebanon is considered to be part of the Fertile Crescent, yet in the meantime with the severe climate changes, it might lose fertility.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Göll|first=Edgar|date=2017-07-12|title=Future Challenges of Climate Change in the MENA Region|url=https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/future-challenges-climate-change-mena-region|access-date=2020-11-30|website=IAI Istituto Affari Internazionali|language=it}}</ref>

<gallery>
Image:Danniyeh.jpg|Snow-covered [[karst]]ic formations in the Danniyeh mountains.
Image:Satellite image of Lebanon in March 2002.jpg|Lebanon from space. Snow cover can be seen on the [[Lebanon Mountains|western]] and [[Anti-Lebanon Mountains|eastern]] mountain ranges.
Image:March 2011 Snow in Lebanon.jpg|Snow in Lebanon's two mountain ranges, Jebel Liban and Jabal ash Sharqi in March 2011.
</gallery>

{{Weather box 
|width = auto
|location = [[Beirut International Airport]]
|metric first = Yes 
|single line = Yes
|Jan record high C = 27.9
|Feb record high C = 30.5
|Mar record high C = 36.6
|Apr record high C = 39.3
|May record high C = 39.0
|Jun record high C = 40.0
|Jul record high C = 40.4
|Aug record high C = 39.5
|Sep record high C = 37.5
|Oct record high C = 37.0
|Nov record high C = 33.1
|Dec record high C = 30.0
|year record high C = 40.4
|Jan high C = 17.4
|Feb high C = 17.5
|Mar high C = 19.6
|Apr high C = 22.6
|May high C = 25.4
|Jun high C = 27.9
|Jul high C = 30.0
|Aug high C = 30.7
|Sep high C = 29.8
|Oct high C = 27.5
|Nov high C = 23.2
|Dec high C = 19.4
|year high C = 24.3
|Jan mean C = 14.0
|Feb mean C = 14.0
|Mar mean C = 16.0
|Apr mean C = 18.7
|May mean C = 21.7
|Jun mean C = 24.9
|Jul mean C = 27.1
|Aug mean C = 27.8
|Sep mean C = 26.8
|Oct mean C = 24.1
|Nov mean C = 19.5
|Dec mean C = 15.8
|year mean C = 20.9
|Jan low C = 11.2
|Feb low C = 11.0
|Mar low C = 12.6
|Apr low C = 15.2
|May low C = 18.2
|Jun low C = 21.6
|Jul low C = 24.0
|Aug low C = 24.8
|Sep low C = 23.7
|Oct low C = 21.0
|Nov low C = 16.3
|Dec low C = 12.9
|year low C = 17.7
|Jan record low C = 0.8
|Feb record low C = 3.0
|Mar record low C = 0.2
|Apr record low C = 7.6
|May record low C = 10.0
|Jun record low C = 15.0
|Jul record low C = 18.0
|Aug record low C = 19.0
|Sep record low C = 17.0
|Oct record low C = 11.1
|Nov record low C = 7.0
|Dec record low C = 4.6
|year record low C = 0.2
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 154
|Feb precipitation mm = 127
|Mar precipitation mm = 84
|Apr precipitation mm = 31
|May precipitation mm = 11
|Jun precipitation mm = 1
|Jul precipitation mm = 0.3
|Aug precipitation mm = 0
|Sep precipitation mm = 5
|Oct precipitation mm = 60
|Nov precipitation mm = 115
|Dec precipitation mm = 141
|year precipitation mm = 730
|Jan rain days = 12
|Feb rain days = 10
|Mar rain days = 8
|Apr rain days = 5
|May rain days = 2
|Jun rain days = 2
|Jul rain days = 0.04
|Aug rain days = 0.1
|Sep rain days = 1
|Oct rain days = 4
|Nov rain days = 7
|Dec rain days = 11
|year rain days = 62
|Jan humidity = 64
|Feb humidity = 64
|Mar humidity = 64
|Apr humidity = 66
|May humidity = 70
|Jun humidity = 71
|Jul humidity = 72
|Aug humidity = 71
|Sep humidity = 65
|Oct humidity = 62
|Nov humidity = 60
|Dec humidity = 63
|year humidity = 66
| Jan dew point C =7
| Feb dew point C =8
| Mar dew point C =9
| Apr dew point C =12
| May dew point C =16
| Jun dew point C =19
| Jul dew point C =22
| Aug dew point C =22
| Sep dew point C =19
| Oct dew point C =16
| Nov dew point C =11
| Dec dew point C =8
|Jan sun = 131
|Feb sun = 143
|Mar sun = 191
|Apr sun = 243
|May sun = 310
|Jun sun = 348
|Jul sun = 360
|Aug sun = 334
|Sep sun = 288
|Oct sun = 245
|Nov sun = 200
|Dec sun = 147
|year sun = 2940
|source 1 = Pogodaiklimat.ru<ref name="pogodaiklimat">{{cite web|url=http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate2/40100.htm|title=Climate of Beirut|publisher=Weather and Climate (Погода и климат)|language=ru|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190521202352/http://www.pogodaiklimat.ru/climate2/40100.htm|archive-date=21 May 2019|access-date=21 May 2019}}</ref>
|source 2 = Danish Meteorological Institute (sun 1931–1960)<ref name=DMI>{{cite web|url=http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/tr01-17.pdf|title=Libanon – Beyrouth|last1=Cappelen|first1=John|last2=Jensen|first2=Jens|work=Climate Data for Selected Stations (1931–1960)|page=167|publisher=Danish Meteorological Institute|language=da|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116071752/http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/tr01-17.pdf|archive-date=16 January 2013|access-date=2 March 2013}}</ref>
Source 3: [https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/lebanon/beirut/climate Time and Date] (dewpoints, between 1985–2015)<ref>{{cite web
|url = https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/lebanon/beirut/climate
|title = Climate & Weather Averages at Beirut Airport weather station (40100)
|publisher = Time and Date
|access-date = 4 February 2022}}</ref>
|date=October 2011}}

{|class="wikitable"
|+Beirut mean sea temperature<ref name="Seatemperature">{{cite web|url=http://www.seatemperature.org/middle-east/lebanon/beirut-february.htm|title=Monthly Beirut water temperature chart|publisher=seatemperature.org|access-date=20 January 2014}}</ref>
|-
!Jan
!Feb
!Mar
!Apr
!May
!Jun
!Jul
!Aug
!Sep
!Oct
!Nov
!Dec
|-
|{{convert|18.5|°C}}
|{{convert|17.5|°C}}
|{{convert|17.5|°C}}
|{{convert|18.5|°C}}
|{{convert|21.3|°C}}
|{{convert|24.9|°C}}
|{{convert|27.5|°C}}
|{{convert|28.5|°C}}
|{{convert|28.1|°C}}
|{{convert|26.0|°C}}
|{{convert|22.6|°C}}
|{{convert|20.1|°C}}
|}