In the Middle East, temperatures have been soaring, leading to blackouts, protests and government-mandated holidays in several countries, and putting millions at risk of developing heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and sun stroke.
Some meteorological centres in the region have alerted the public to be ready for record-breaking temperatures, reported Al Arabiya.
In the second week of August, Iraq’s Centre of Meteorology in Iraq predicted that temperatures would exceed 50 degrees C. Other Arab centres also forecasted that the mercury would exceed 45 degrees C in various countries in the region.
Iraq and Lebanon were forced to declare a four-day holiday in early August to help residents cope with extreme conditions as a heat dome – a high pressure ridge that develops in the upper atmosphere, forcing the air below it to sink and compress – set in over the region. The Iranian port city of Bandar-e Mahshahr recorded temperatures hit 74 degrees C.
In the UAE however, weather officials said that the impact of the regional heat wave has not been as severe due to the topography of the country, reported Emirates 24/7. “The high temperatures we are experiencing now are characteristic of this season...there has been no marked change from what we had experienced last year.”
2015 becoming the hottest year
Globally, temperatures for June and the first half of the year have broken previous records, indicating that 2015 is well on its way to become the hottest year. Higher temperatures are expected to continue in the last six months of the year.
June was the fourth month of 2015 that set a temperature record, Ms Jessica Blunden, Climate Scientist at the Washington DC-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told Associated Press. The world’s average temperature in June hit 16.33 degrees C, breaking the old record set last year by 0.12 degrees C, according to NOAA data.
Southern Pakistan experienced the eighth deadliest heat wave since 1900, with 1,200 people killed as a result. In May, a heatwave in India claimed more than 2,000 lives and ranked as the fifth deadliest on record.