This is the third name in the list agreed upon by the National Meteorological Service (NMS), the Cyprus Meteorological Department (CM) and the Israel Meteorological Service in the naming programme of major depressions of the European Meteorological Services Organisation EUMETNET, in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The list includes catchy names for all three countries. For the period 2021-22 the names were selected: "Athina, Ballos, Carmel, Diomedes, Elpis, Filippos, Genesis, Helios, Irit, Kalypso, Lavi, Meliti, Nikias, Ora, Paris, Raphael, Semeli, Thomas, Urania, Vion, Xenios, Yasmin, Zefyros".
The first name was "Athina" and came from Greece, the second name "Ballos" was given by Cyprus and the third name "Carmel" comes to us from Israel.
The name "Carmel" refers to the corresponding biblical term and to the city of the same name on the west coast of Israel.The name is also found in Cyprus among the Maronite population.
Mount Carmel is a mountain range and extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the southeast, and the mountain range has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. This area includes Mount Carmel National Park.
The Carmel Range is about 6.5 to 8 km wide, sloping gently to the southwest, but forming a steep ridge on the northeastern side, 546 m high.
It rises 546 m above Haifa Bay and extends 39 km in the southeastern direction.
The etymology and exact meaning of the Hebrew word karmel (כַּרְמֶל) is disputed, but a large majority of interested scholars believe it comes from the Semitic root krm, which brings it close to the noun kerem, a word meaning "vineyard".
In the context of the Hebrew Bible, however, the noun karmel seems to denote the forests and shrublands typical of Carmel and other areas with a Mediterranean climate in the Holy Land, an intermediate habitat between the dry, semi-arid steppe called midbar in Hebrew and yaar, a forest like that in the mountains of Lebanon, with high-trunked trees, such as cedars.
At the same time, the phrase "Mount Carmel" has been used in three different ways:
- To refer to the 39-kilometer-long mountain range that extends southeast to Jenin.
- To refer to the 21-kilometre-long north-western part of the range.
- Για να αναφερθείτε στο ακρωτήρι στο βορειοδυτικό άκρο της οροσειράς.
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