| Khamsin inhieroglyphs | |||||
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Resetyu Rstyw The south winds | |||||
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Khamsin,[1]chamsin orhamsin (Arabic:خمسينḫamsīn, meaning "fifty"), more commonly known inEgypt andIsrael askhamaseen (Egyptian Arabic:خماسينḫamāsīn,IPA:[xɑmæˈsiːn]ⓘ), is a dry, hot, sandylocal wind affecting Egypt and the Levant; similar winds, blowing in other parts ofNorth Africa, theArabian Peninsula[citation needed] and the entireMediterranean basin, have different local names, such asbad-i-sad-o-bist roz inIran andAfghanistan,haboob in theSudan,aajej in southernMorocco,ghibli inTunis,harmattan in the westernMaghreb,africo inItaly,sirocco (derived from the Arabicšarqiyya, "eastern") which blows in winter over much of theMiddle East,[2] andsimoom.[citation needed]
From theArabic word for "fifty", these dry, sand-filled windstorms blow sporadically in Egypt typically after fifty days from the start ofspring, hence the name. The term is also used in the southernLevant (Palestine,JordanIsrael), where the phenomenon takes a partly different form and blows both during spring and autumn.[2]
When the storm passes over an area, lasting for several hours, it carries great quantities of sand and dust from the deserts, with a speed up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph; 76 knots), and the humidity in that area drops below 5%. Even in winter, the temperatures rise above 45 °C (113 °F) due to the storm. The sand storms are reported to have seriously impeded both Napoleon's military campaigns in Egypt as well as Allied-German fighting in North Africa inWorld War II.[citation needed]
In the southernLevant it takes the shape of an oppressive weather front with hot temperatures, large quantities of dust impeding visibility, and strong winds during the night.[2] In theBook of Exodus of theHebrew Bible, theruah kadim (רוח קדים) or "east wind" is the cause of theparting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21).[2]
Khamsin can be triggered byextratropical cyclones that move eastwards along the southern parts of theMediterranean or along the North African coast from February to June.[3]
InEgypt, the khamsin usually arrives in April but occasionally can occur between March and May, carrying great quantities of sand and dust from the deserts, with a speed up to 140 kilometers per hour, and a rise of temperatures as much as 20 °C (36 °F) in two hours.[citation needed] It is believed to blow "at intervals for about 50 days",[4] although it rarely occurs "more than once a week and lasts for just a few hours at a time".[5] A 19th-century account of the khamsin in Egypt reports that
These winds, though they seldom cause the thermometer of Fahrenheit to rise above 95° inLower Egypt, or inUpper Egypt 105°, are dreadfully oppressive, even to the natives. When theplague visits Egypt, it is generally in the spring; and the disease is most severe in the period of the khamáseen.[6]
The same account relates that Muslims in Egypt "calculate the period of [khamaseen] ... to commence on the day immediately following theCoptic festival ofEaster Sunday, and to terminate on theDay of Pentecost (or Whitsunday); an interval of forty-nine days."[7] This period roughly coincides with the JewishCounting of the Omer, which also lasts for an interval of 49 days, between the springtime feasts ofPesach (Passover) andSavuot (Weeks), as well as the ChristianEastertide which Copts also refer to askhamaseen.
DuringNapoleon's 1798Egyptian Campaign, the French soldiers had a hard time with the khamsin: when the storm appeared "as a blood[y] tint in the distant sky", the Ottomans went to take cover, while the French "did not react until it was too late, then choked and fainted in the blinding, suffocating walls of dust".[8] During theNorth African Campaign inWorld War II,
The wordkhamsin is considered a recent import toPalestine, probably introduced during theMandate for Palestine period by British soldiers who had served in Egypt.[10] Here the khamsin (חמסין) is more often known as simoom (سموم) by the Arabic speaking population, or by theModern Hebrew namesharav (שרב) by Hebrew speakers.[11]
Khamsin and sharav are scientifically defined as different phenomena, a sharav having three characteristics: a temperature higher than 27°C, a temperature exceeding the annual average by at least 5°C, and humidity levels 10% lower than normal.[10] However, this usage is strictly academic, and the two terms are used interchangeably by common speakers of Hebrew.[10]
For information about the period when the khamsin affects Palestine, see above under "Egypt" (Counting of the Omer, the 49 days between the festivals of Passover and Shavuot).
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