Hi,
We are on the edge of the Judaean desert. It is considered a desert or a plain according to the amount of rain here in that specific year: Over 200mm of rain means that wheat can grow and it is plain. Less than it, the place considered desert. But I guess you already knows it, Geography graduates and stuff… 😉
It is a special desert, the Judean desert, on the shed of the rain. Like the Valley of death in California. The mountains we sit on (Judea mountains) prevent the clouds from going over it and you get a desert that isn’t part of the global band of deserts.
But it is cold as any other desert: when you have no plants on the surface, you got no clouds in the sky. When you have no clouds (even light clouds), you have nothing to prevent direct sun on the ground and it getting hot during the day. When you have no clouds at night, you are missing the “blanket” that keeping the heat of day in the air. And the night are cold. Very cold – The days are 21c degrees and the night are 4c degrees.
That is what I explained to my soldiers when I was Sergent, and we had a finally one day with clouds. “That is why we gonna have warm night, not like the freezing night we had before”. What I forgot to tell them…. is those were rain clouds….
It was cold that night…. but it was cold and wet…. =/
Looking east from the settlement of Carmel on the edge of the desert and the Mountains of Jordan
Looking south from Lucifer tower to Arad
Looking South East from Mitzpe Yair