The Dead Sea lies in a desert. Rainfall is scanty and irregular. Al-Lisān averages about 2.5 inches (65 mm) of rain a year, the industrial site of Sedom (near historical Sodom) only about 2 inches (50 mm). Because of the lake’s extremely low elevation and sheltered location, winter temperatures are mild, averaging 63 °F (17 °C) in January at the southern end at Sedom and 58 °F (14 °C) at the northern end; freezing temperatures do not occur. Summer is oppressively hot, averaging 93 °F (34 °C) in August at Sedom, with a recorded maximum of 124 °F (51 °C). Evaporation of the lake’s waters—estimated at about 55 inches (1,400 mm) per year—often creates a thick mist above the lake. On the rivers the atmospheric humidity varies from 45 percent in May to 62 percent in October. Lake and land breezes, which are relatively common, blow off the lake in all directions in the daytime and then reverse direction to blow toward the centre of the lake at night.

The inflow from the Jordan River, whose high waters occur in winter and spring, once averaged some 45.5 billion cubic feet (1.3 billion cubic metres) per year. However, the subsequent diversions of the Jordan’s waters reduced the river’s flow to a small fraction of the previous amount and became the principal cause for the drop in the Dead Sea’s water level. Four modest streams descend to the lake from Jordan to the east through deep gorges: the wadis (intermittent streams) Al-ʿUẓaymī, Zarqāʾ Māʿīn, Al-Mawjib, and Al-Ḥasā. Down numerous other wadis, streams flow spasmodically and briefly from the neighbouring heights as well as from the depression of Wadi Al-ʿArabah. Thermal sulfur springs also feed the rivers. Evaporation in summer and the inflow of water, especially in winter and spring, once caused noticeable seasonal variations of 12 to 24 inches (30 to 60 cm) in the level of the lake, but those fluctuations have been overshadowed by the more-dramatic annual drops in the Dead Sea’s surface level.

Salinity

The waters of the Dead Sea are extremely saline, and, generally, the concentration of salt increases toward the lake’s bottom. That phenomenon can create two different masses of water in the lake for extended periods of time. Such a situation existed for some three centuries, lasting until the late 1970s. Down to a depth of about 130 feet (40 metres), the temperature varied from 66 to 98 °F (19 to 37 °C), the salinity was slightly less than 300 parts per thousand, and the water was especially rich in sulfates and bicarbonates. Beneath a zone of transition located at depths between 130 and 330 feet (40 and 100 metres), the water had a uniform temperature of about 72 °F (22 °C) and a higher degree of salinity (approximately 332 parts per thousand); it contained hydrogen sulfide and strong concentrations of magnesium, potassium, chlorine, and bromine. The deep water was saturated with sodium chloride, which precipitated to the bottom. The deep water thus became fossilized (i.e., because it was highly salty and dense, it remained permanently on the bottom).

The dramatic reduction in inflow from the Jordan River that began in the 1960s gradually increased the salinity of the upper-layer waters of the Dead Sea. By the late 1970s that water mass had become more saline (and denser) than the lower layers, but, because it remained warmer than the layers beneath it, it did not sink. By the winter of 1978–79, however, the upper-level layer had become cool and saturated enough to sink, setting off an event known as an overturn (a mixing of the water layers). Since then the trend has been toward restoring the formerly stratified water layers, but with more instances of overturning.

The saline water has a high density that keeps bathers buoyant. The fresh water of the Jordan stays on the surface, and in the spring its muddy colour can be traced as it spreads southward from the point where the river empties into the Dead Sea. The lake’s extreme salinity excludes all forms of life except bacteria. Fish carried in by the Jordan or by smaller streams when in flood die quickly. Apart from the vegetation along the rivers, plant life along the shores is discontinuous and consists mainly of halophytes (plants that grow in salty or alkaline soil).