Israel Hanay · CC BY 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at -108 m.
The real relief above Nahal Hemar Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
-108m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
23°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
298m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
23 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 23 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 39 °C at the entrance, 16 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from April to October. The wettest months are in January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 19°8°Jan
- 21°9°Feb
- 25°11°Mar
- 30°14°Apr
- 34°18°May
- 38°20°Jun
- 39°22°Jul
- 39°23°Aug
- 36°21°Sep
- 32°19°Oct
- 26°14°Nov
- 21°10°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Archeological cave site in Israel
Nahal Hemar Cave is a cave in Israel. The entrance is at -108 m. It has an underground river.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- ‘En Boqeqnearest town · 9.4 km in a straight line
- Viewpointsnearest viewpoint · 1.5 km from the entrance
- Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 93 km in a straight lineCar hire at AMM airport (Amman)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The the river runs highest from January to February.
The the river carries about 0.32 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from January to February. It is lowest from April to November.
- 0.9 m³/sJan
- 0.8 m³/sFeb
- 0.5 m³/sMar
- 0.2 m³/sApr
- 0.1 m³/sMay
- 0.0 m³/sJun
- 0.0 m³/sJul
- 0.0 m³/sAug
- 0.0 m³/sSep
- 0.0 m³/sOct
- 0.2 m³/sNov
- 0.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.02 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.86 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 381 km².
The Nahal Hemar from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmמערת זרון
- 2springs within 2 kmעין אשד, עין חמר
- 1sinkholes within 3 kmצלחת דולומיט
- 4viewpoints within 3 kmמפל נחל חמר and 3 more
- 4marked hiking routes within 3 km
- 2named waterfalls within 4 kmמפל חלמיש, מפל חמר
- 7campsites within 8 kmחניון לילה מישור עמיעז, חניון לא רשמי, חניון לילה מלונות ים המלח צפון and 4 more
- 23hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmVert ים המלח, מלון צל הרים, ספא לוט and 20 more
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- ‘En Boqeq9.4 km in a straight line
- Arad15 km in a straight line
- Safi20 km in a straight line
- Kuseifa22 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Nahal Hemar Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entrance
Peakyas7 mountains within 10 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 19 | 21 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 36 | 32 | 26 | 21 |
| Afternoon | 19 | 21 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 36 | 32 | 26 | 21 |
| Night | 8 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 18 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 21 | 19 | 14 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 42 | 31 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 20 | 26 |
| Rainy days | 7 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Sun hours/day | 6.2 | 6.9 | 8.7 | 10.1 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 13.1 | 12.2 | 10.8 | 9.1 | 7.5 | 6.4 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 19 | 19 | 8 | 42 | 6.2 |
| Feb | 21 | 21 | 9 | 31 | 6.9 |
| Mar | 25 | 25 | 11 | 18 | 8.7 |
| Apr | 30 | 30 | 14 | 11 | 10.1 |
| May | 34 | 34 | 18 | 3 | 11.8 |
| Jun | 38 | 38 | 20 | 0 | 13.4 |
| Jul | 39 | 39 | 22 | 0 | 13.1 |
| Aug | 39 | 39 | 23 | 0 | 12.2 |
| Sep | 36 | 36 | 21 | 2 | 10.8 |
| Oct | 32 | 32 | 19 | 9 | 9.1 |
| Nov | 26 | 26 | 14 | 20 | 7.5 |
| Dec | 21 | 21 | 10 | 26 | 6.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (-108 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 314% | 167% | 440% | 695% | — | — | — | — | — | 18% | 244% | 93% |
| 2021 | 85% | 164% | 54% | 11% | — | — | — | — | — | 18% | 56% | 189% |
| 2022 | 233% | 113% | 232% | 0% | — | — | — | — | — | 82% | 127% | 130% |
| 2023 | 65% | 201% | 181% | 300% | — | — | — | — | — | 46% | 105% | 112% |
| 2024 | 253% | 65% | 48% | 47% | — | — | — | — | — | 0% | 35% | 103% |
| 2025 | 28% | 112% | 129% | 42% | — | — | — | — | — | 7% | 80% | 285% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Nahal Hemar Cave
Israel
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- -108 mEntrance altitude
- 23 °CInside, all year
Sanctuary of Agios Lot
Jordan · 22 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- -255 mEntrance altitude
- 25 °CInside, all year
Cave of Letters
Israel · 33 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- -16 mEntrance altitude
- 23 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q112940062) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
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