Weather in Israel

This site is in Hebrew, so if you want to see the wave cam and you don't read Hebrew, then click on the top button in the left frame. http://www.isracam.co.il/

Sites for Predicting Surf:

Global WAM - 5 Day Global Swell Prediction
Weather in TA - 3 Day Weather & Wind Direction Prediction
NOAA/NCEP WAM Global Swell Data

Water Temps : 29 C. (Aug.) - 15 C. (Feb.)

Summer:

Durring the summer months, the swell size is between 1-4 feet. In the morning, the wind blows offshore (until around 9:30am) and in the evening the wind dies down (around 18:00). The sun rises at 4:45 and sets at 19:45. Waves will break well at almost all the "open sea" breaks (breaks that are not contained by two jetties). From June to Aug, there are jelly fish in the water,they sting but you shouldn't worry about them, I don't... Besides these jelly fish, there are no other sea creatures in the Israel waters.

The best time's to go surfing durring the summer would be early morning (dawn patrol), or late afternoon, because of the good wind conditions, the waves have good form. Durring the summer, the crowds get wild (10 people on a 2 foot closeout is quite a site). You'll see alot of boards flying towards you while paddling out, this is mostly because of the kooks that come out durring the summer months (In Israel, we call kooks "bar mitzva surfers", becuase most of them are kids that got a board for their bar mitzva (13th birthday) and decided to try it out). In the summer, you'll hear alot of "hop hop..." which is the Israeli version of "heads up", if you hear this, you're probably dropping in on somebody. This is opposed to the winter months durring which you'll here alot of hoots and in general people are more mellow in the water.

Winter:

Durring the winter months, the water reaches a chilling 15 C. which requires at least a 3/2 mil. wetsuit. The water gets muddy (because of all the drainage from the rain) and the waves get bigger (the winter can bring waves upto 7 feet - 1.5x overhead).

There are 3 conditions that bring waves durring the winter:

1. Low pressure over Israel - When ever a low is over Israel, strong southwest winds start blowing. Usualy the waves close out but sometimes these storms are surfable. These waves aren't the greatest because of the strong onshore winds. Durring these storms, your best chances for surfable waves are at "jettied" breaks or going up north and surfing in Haifa where the wind will be offshore.

2. The day after - The day after a low pressure storm will usualy have offshore wind (until around 11:00 am). These days can be great, size + offshore winds making good conditions.

3. Low pressure west of Israel - sometimes a low pressure will sit over Cyprus or Greece. In this case, Israel will get swell, the size depending on the depth of the low. These are also good days for surfing.

Durring the winter months, the breaks are less crowded, the surfers are much more friendly, and you'll hear alot of hooting and comments about good surfing.