Daily maximum and minimum temperatures from 40 stations in Israel were anal
yzed to detect long-term trends and changes in temporal and spatial distrib
ution patterns during the second half of the 20th Century. The trend analys
is, reveals a rather complex changing pattern, with a significant decreasin
g trend of both the daily maximum and minimum temperature, during the cool
season, and an increasing trend during the warm season.
The seasonal temperature range exhibits an increasing trend: the summers ha
ve become warmer while the winters have become colder. The increase of the
minimum summer temperature is more pronounced than the increase of the maxi
mum temperature, while the decrease of the maximum temperature in winter is
greater than the decrease of the minimum, thus resulting in a significant
decline of the air temperature diurnal range in both seasons.
It appears that the frequency of occurrence of extreme temperature events,
with lower winter and higher summer temperatures, has increased.
On an annual basis, there seems to be almost no temporal trends in minimum
and maximum temperatures since the changes in winter and summer show an opp
osite tendencey.