Beit Dagan

Beit Dagan (Hebrew: בֵּית דָּגָן, lit. "House of Grain") is a town and local council in the Central District of Israel. Located adjacent to Rishon LeZion, it had a population of 7,078 in 2014.

History

Beit Dagan was founded in 1948 at the site of the Arab village Bayt Dajan by Yemenite and North African immigrants. It is probably situated in the area of Biblical Beit Dagon, a village in the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:41).

It was declared a local council in 1958.

Geography

Beit Dagan's central neighborhood is Neve Hadarim. Other neighborhoods are Neve Ganim, Bnei Bitkha and Nekudat Hen.

Climate

Beit Dagan is the home of the Israel Meteorological Service and used as a central focus of weather data.

Beit Dagan has a Mediterranean climate with hot and rainless summers, and with cold and rainy winters. Springs and autumns are cool to warm. Humidity is high during winter and low during summer, which makes summers rainless and hot, between average high of 30.8 °C (87.4 °F) and average low of 20.4 °C (68.7 °F). Winters are rainy and mild, between average high of 18.5 °C (65.3 °F) and average low of 7.6 °C (45.7 °F). Beit Dagan receives 550.5 mm (21.7 in) of precipitation per year and there are only 7 months of heavy rain.