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Khamsin, chamsin or hamsin ( , meaning "fifty"), more commonly known in Egypt, Israel and Palestine as khamaseen ( , ), is a dry, hot, sandy local wind affecting Egypt and the Levant; similar winds, blowing in other parts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the entire Mediterranean basin, have different local names, such as bad-i-sad-o-bist roz in Iran and Afghanistan, haboob in the Sudan, aajej in southern Morocco, ghibli in Tunis, harmattan in the western Maghreb, africo in Italy, sirocco (derived from the Arabic , "eastern") which blows in winter over much of the Middle East,Philologos, Fifty Days and Fifty Nights, in The Forward, 4 April 2003. Accessed 18 May 2018 and simoom.
From the Arabic word for "fifty", these dry, sand-filled windstorms blow sporadically in Egypt typically after fifty days from the start of spring, hence the name. The term is also used in the southern Levant (Jordan, Israel, Palestine), where the phenomenon takes a partly different form and blows both during spring and autumn.
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 in World War II.
In the southern Levant it takes the shape of an oppressive weather front with hot temperatures, large quantities of dust impeding visibility, and strong winds during the night. In the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible, the ruah kadim () or "east wind" is the cause of the parting of the Red Sea ().
These winds, though they seldom cause the thermometer of Fahrenheit to rise above 95° in Lower Egypt, or in Upper Egypt 105°, are dreadfully oppressive, even to the natives. When the plague visits Egypt, it is generally in the spring; and the disease is most severe in the period of the khamáseen.Lane, Edward William (1973 1860). An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. With a new introduction by John Manchip White. New York: Dover Publications. p. 2.The same account relates that Muslims in Egypt "calculate the period of khamaseen ... to commence on the day immediately following the festival of Easter, and to terminate on the Pentecost (or Whitsunday); an interval of forty-nine days."Lane, p. 488. This period roughly coincides with the Jewish Counting of the Omer, which also lasts for an interval of 49 days, between the springtime feasts of Passover and Shavuot, as well as the Christian Eastertide which Copts also refer to as khamaseen.
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.Dr. Amos Porat, "Between Khamsin and Sharav", at 07:51. Israel Meteorological Service, 18 April 2021. Accessed 27 May 2023. However, this usage is strictly academic, and the two terms are used interchangeably by common speakers of Hebrew.
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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