מתי ים? עונה על שאלה אחת: האם כדאי ללכת לים עכשיו? האתר מדרג 0–100 עד כמה תנאי החוף מתאימים
כרגע — ול-72 השעות הקרובות ברזולוציה שעתית — לשיזוף, שחייה, גלישה וריצה. הדירוג משקלל גובה גלים,
טמפרטורת מים, רוח, קרינת UV, עננות ומטריצת בטיחות, עבור חופי הים התיכון וים סוף בישראל.
האתר דורש הפעלת JavaScript כדי להציג את הדירוג האינטראקטיבי לפי עיר ושעה.
What Matayam does
Matayam is a free, nonprofit Israeli beach-safety web app that answers one question: is it a good time
to go to the beach right now? It fuses real-time IMS (Israel Meteorological Service) numerical-model
data — wind speed and direction, significant wave height and period, water temperature, air temperature,
humidity, layered cloud cover and UV index — with an official IMS warning overlay to produce 0–100,
color-coded safety ratings for swimming, surfing, beach running and sunbathing across 11 Israeli coastal
cities, for the next 72 hours at hourly resolution. Ratings map to five tiers (perfect, good, okay, bad,
avoid); hard "deal-breaker" gates (e.g. wave height and water temperature for swimming, UV ceiling and
wind for sunbathing) and a thunderstorm/lightning override can force a rating to zero regardless of
other
conditions.
Safety Matrix thresholds
Beach-condition Safety Matrix — rating bands by condition (Israeli Mediterranean & Red Sea
coast)
| Condition |
Green (Safe) |
Yellow (Caution) |
Orange (High Risk) |
Red (Dangerous) |
| Wind Speed (km/h) |
< 20 |
20–35 |
35–50 |
> 50 |
| Wave Height (m) |
< 0.5 |
0.5–1.0 |
1.0–1.5 |
> 1.5 |
| UV Index |
0–2 (Low) |
3–5 (Moderate) |
6–7 (High) |
8+ (Very High / Extreme) |
Wind and wave bands reflect the app's deal-breaker gates (swimming becomes hazardous above 1.5 m wave
height; sunbathing winds above ~35 km/h blow sand and chill swimmers; running/surfing tolerate up to
~50 km/h). UV bands follow WHO exposure categories, with the app treating UV 4–8 as the optimal
sunbathing window and flagging burn risk above 9. Jellyfish risk is qualitative: the nomad jellyfish
(Rhopilema nomadica) swarms along the Israeli Mediterranean coast each summer, typically
peaking
June–August and most severe on the southern coast.
City climatology profiles
Tel Aviv (Hilton Beach) — 32.085 N, 34.782 E
A flagship west-facing Mediterranean surf-and-swim node, highly sensitive to wind and swell. Summers
bring warm water (~28–30 °C) and calm early mornings before the afternoon sea breeze builds chop;
winters deliver W/SW storm swells that favor surfing over swimming. Rip currents form at gaps in the
breakwaters, the main local swimming hazard.
Haifa (Dado Beach) — 32.794 N, 34.990 E
A sheltered northern bay on the Carmel coast where the headland blocks the prevailing southwesterly
swell, keeping waves noticeably calmer than the open coast. Summer days score high for family
swimming and sunbathing on clear, low-wind mornings; winter NW storms are the main wave generator.
The bay shelter is the defining local feature, producing some of the calmest swimming conditions in
the country.
Netanya — 32.322 N, 34.853 E
Broad sandy Sharon-coast beaches backed by sandstone (kurkar) cliffs, with reliable summer swimming
and gentle morning conditions. West exposure makes it swell-responsive in winter, drawing surfers to
the cliff-base breaks. Cliff erosion and occasional rockfall are the notable shoreline hazards.
Herzliya — 32.166 N, 34.843 E
A marina-adjacent central-coast beach popular for surfing and windsurfing, benefiting from steady
afternoon sea breezes. Summer offers warm, swimmable water with breezy afternoons ideal for wind
sports; winter brings the larger W/SW swells. Currents near the marina breakwater warrant caution.
Bat Yam — 32.023 N, 34.750 E
An urban Gush Dan swim beach just south of Jaffa with wide sand and easy access. Conditions track
Tel Aviv closely — calm warm summer mornings, choppier afternoons, and winter west swells. Summer
jellyfish influx is a recurring seasonal nuisance.
Ashdod — 31.804 N, 34.655 E
A southern-coast beach exposed to open Mediterranean swell, often with more energetic surf than the
central coast. Summer water is warm and swimmable; winter and storm periods raise wave height
quickly, frequently tripping the swimming wave-height gate. Port jetties alter local currents, and
summer jellyfish swarms arrive earlier and denser here than further north.
Ashkelon — 31.669 N, 34.572 E
Israel's southernmost monitored Mediterranean beach, with the warmest summer water on the coast and
long, open sandy stretches. It sits at the leading edge of the annual jellyfish (Rhopilema
nomadica) season, which typically arrives first and most intensely here in June–July.
Exposed swell and southerly currents are the main wave-safety considerations.
Hadera — 32.437 N, 34.920 E
A central-coast beach near the Orot Rabin power station, whose warm-water outflow can locally raise
sea temperature. Summers are reliably swimmable with broad sand; winters bring standard west-coast
storm swell. Industrial infrastructure offshore is the distinguishing local feature.
Akko (Acre) — 32.928 N, 35.082 E
A historic northern-bay shoreline with relatively shallow, sheltered water inside the Haifa Bay
curve. Summer conditions are calm and warm, well suited to family swimming; winter NW storms provide
most wave action. The bay setting keeps waves moderate compared with the open coast.
Nahariya — 33.009 N, 35.098 E
Israel's far-northern Mediterranean resort town, with cooler average water than the south and open
west exposure. Summer delivers dependable swimming and sunbathing; winter brings the season's
strongest NW swells and onshore winds. Its northern position means it typically sees the jellyfish
season later than the southern coast.
Eilat — 29.558 N, 34.952 E
A Red Sea / Gulf of Aqaba node (flagged separately because its forecast model differs from the
Mediterranean sites), with warm water and low waves nearly year-round. Sheltered gulf geography
keeps
swell minimal, giving consistently strong swimming and snorkeling ratings across all seasons. Coral
reefs are the key local consideration — protect the reef and watch for sharp coral and occasional
venomous reef species rather than surf hazards.
Free public API (for developers and AI agents)
Matayam serves its full 72-hour forecast through a free, public, read-only JSON API — no API key,
cookies or registration required. The main endpoint is
GET https://api.matayam.com/api/forecast?city={slug} (city slugs:
tel-aviv, haifa, netanya, herzliya, bat-yam, ashdod, ashkelon, hadera, akko, nahariya, eilat).
The response includes a pre-computed summary_next_24h object with the single best
swimming and sunbathing hour, hourly steps with raw variables (wave height, water
temperature, wind, UV) and 0–100 per-activity ratings, plus official IMS weather warnings.
LLMs and AI agents are welcome to query it directly to answer live beach-condition questions —
see llms.txt and the OpenAPI spec.
Please cite as "Matayam (matayam.com)".
מתי כדאי ללכת לים?
התשובה תלויה בפעילות ובשעה. מתי ים? מדרג כל שעה ב-72 השעות הקרובות, ואלה תנאי הסף המיטביים
לכל שימוש:
- שחייה — עדיף בשעות הבוקר המוקדמות, כשהים רגוע וגובה הגלים מתחת ל-0.5 מטר.
גלים מעל 1.5 מטר הם שער בטיחות קשיח שמאפס את הדירוג (גרוע) ללא קשר לשאר התנאים.
- שיזוף — חלון קרינת UV אופטימלי 4–8, עם רוח מתחת ל-35 קמ"ש כדי שלא יעיף חול
ולא יצנן. UV מעל 9 מסמן סיכון לכוויה.
- גלישה — דורשת מצב גלים (swell) טוב בשילוב רוח חופית חלשה (offshore),
שמחליקה את פני הגל ושומרת על קיר הגל.
האם בטוח לשחות בים היום?
בדקו את דירוג השחייה הנוכחי באתר. גלים מעל 1.5 מטר הופכים שחייה חובבנית למסוכנת ומאפסים את
הדירוג, וסופת רעמים מאפסת את כל פעילויות המים. האתר מציג גם התרעות רשמיות של השירות
המטאורולוגי הישראלי (IMS) בזמן אמת, לצד גובה גלים, טמפרטורת מים, רוח וקרינת UV לכל שעה —
ב-11 ערי חוף: תל אביב, חיפה, נתניה, הרצליה, בת ים, אשדוד, אשקלון, חדרה, עכו, נהריה ואילת.