khamsin

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, 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.