Lebanon
Lebanon Geography & Climate
Geography
Lebanon covers about 10,400 square kilometres, bordering Syria and Israel, and it is essentially a set of parallel strips running north to south — which is why you can cross it from sea to mountain in an hour.
The coast
A narrow plain, in places only a few hundred metres wide, holding most of the population and every one of the historic ports — Tripoli, Byblos, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre — which were Phoenician city-states and are all still cities today.
Mount Lebanon
The range rises steeply and immediately behind the coast, reaching 3,088 metres at Qurnat as Sawda. It catches the winter snow that gives the country its name — the root means white — and it is cut by deep gorges, of which the Qadisha is the most dramatic, a valley of vertical limestone walls holding monasteries carved into the rock. The remnant cedar groves survive at around 2,000 metres.
The Bekaa
Behind the mountains lies a high, flat valley about 1,000 metres up, the northern continuation of the Great Rift. It is the country’s agricultural heart and its wine region, and it is drier than the coast because the mountains take the rain.
The Anti-Lebanon
A second range forms the Syrian border, with Mount Hermon at its southern end.
The cedars, and how few are left
The forests that supplied timber to Egypt, Phoenicia and Solomon’s temple once covered much of the range. What survives is a handful of groves totalling a few hundred hectares, the best known above Bsharri in the Qadisha, where some trees are well over a thousand years old. The tree is on the national flag, and the gap between that emblem and the actual remnant is one of the more pointed facts about the country.
Water and karst
The limestone is riddled with caves and springs — Jeita Grotto runs for kilometres underground — and Lebanon has more surface water than its neighbours, though supply is badly managed and increasingly scarce.
Climate Patterns
Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate, but altitude changes it so sharply over such short distances that the country effectively has several at once.
The coast
Beirut and the ports have hot, humid summers around 28 to 32°C and mild, wet winters around 10 to 17°C. Nearly all the rain falls between November and March, often in heavy bursts, and summer is essentially dry. The humidity is what makes August uncomfortable rather than the temperature.
The mountains
Ten or fifteen degrees cooler than the coast at the same moment, and this is why the mountain towns exist — Beirut empties upward in summer. Winter brings genuine snow above about 1,500 metres, lying from December to April and supporting a ski season, with the highest ground holding patches into early summer.
The Bekaa
Sheltered behind the range, so drier and more continental: hotter days in summer, colder nights, and frost in winter. This continental swing is what suits the vineyards.
Sea and snow in one day
The often-repeated claim that you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon is true on a clear day in March, because the drive from the coast to the slopes is well under two hours. It is a fair summary of the country’s geography.
What to pack for
The practical consequence of so much variation in so little space is that a single day’s itinerary can need two wardrobes. Leaving Beirut in shirtsleeves for Baalbek in the Bekaa or the cedar groves above Bsharri means arriving somewhere ten or fifteen degrees colder and considerably windier, and in winter it can mean arriving in snow. Take a layer you do not think you will need.
A drying trend
Snowfall has become less reliable and droughts more frequent, which affects the water supply, the cedars and the ski season alike.