Feels-Like Temp Reaches 164 Degrees in Iran; Days Off Ordered as Mideast Broils in Extreme Heat Wave

Nick Wiltgen
Published: August 3,2015
Even in the Middle East, where scorching heat is part of everyday life during the summer, coping with extreme temperatures has its limits. A heat wave that has been building for days is testing those limits – and is testing the region's national temperature records too.
The searing heat led to an impromptu, mandatory four-day holiday in Iraq beginning this past Thursday.
The government has urged residents to stay out of the sun and drink plenty of water, but for many of the more than 3 million Iraqis displaced by violent conflict, that poses a dilemma.

Current Conditions: Iraq, Iran, Kuwait

Chronic electricity and water cuts in Iraq and other conflict-ridden countries make heat waves like the present one even more unbearable – particularly for the more than 14 million people displaced by violence across the region. In the southern Iraqi city of Basrah earlier this month, protesters clashed with police as they demonstrated for better power services, leaving one person dead.
Basrah has been near the epicenter of the heat wave. The city's high exceeded 120 F (48.9 C) for eight straight days before falling a pinch short Monday at 119.3 F (48.5 C). Still, Monday continued a now 37-day string of highs at or above 110 F (43.3 F). To the north, the Iraqi capital logged four consecutive days in the 120s Wednesday through Saturday, and has reached at least 100 F (37.8 C) every day since May 30.
(FORECAST: Baghdad)
The forecast calls for more punishing heat. Highs in the Baghdad area are likely to hover near 120 F (49 C) for much of this week. Cities in southeastern Iraq may push 125 F (52 C) later this week. Nighttime lows are forecast to remain in the 30 to 35 C range (86 to 95 F).
Unlike other countries in the region, Iraq lacks beaches and travel restrictions make it difficult for people to escape the sweltering heat, leaving many - even those fortunate enough to live in their homes - with limited options for cooling off. Some swim in rivers and irrigation canals, while others spend these days in air-conditioned shopping malls.

Current Heat Index (Feels-Like Temperature)

To the south, in the similarly sweltering Persian Gulf region, residents cranked up their air conditioners, and elsewhere in the Middle East, those who could headed to the beach to escape Thursday's soaring temperatures, high even by the standards of the region.
Water temperatures in the Persian Gulf routinely warm into the 90s each summer, releasing massive amounts of water vapor into the air above. For those unlucky enough to catch a breeze from the Gulf, the humidity can be stifling.
On Thursday, those breezes blew toward the Iranian side of the Gulf. At 3:30 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) Thursday, the manned observation site at the Mahshahr Airport in southwest Iran reported a temperature of 109 F (43 C) and a dewpoint of 90 F (32 C). Using the American heat index formula, those figures yielded a mind-boggling feels-like temperature of 159 F (70 C).
It was even hotter on Friday at the Mahshahr Airport when temperatures reached 114.8 F at 4:30 pm local time with a dew point of 89.6 F, leading to a heat index value of an incredible 164 F (73 C).

The heat index, or feels-like temperature, for selected cities in the Persian Gulf region at noon GMT on July 31, 2015. Parts of coastal Iran have been suffering from a brutal combination of triple-digit heat from the deserts and extremely high humidity originating from the waters of the Persian Gulf.

Mahshahr has been on a bit of a cooling trend since then; the heat index peaked at 155 F (68 C) on Saturday and 142 F (61 C) Sunday. Monday's heat index there actually peaked before sunrise, when the actual temperature of 93.2 F (34 C) felt like 130 F (55 C). After sunrise, lower humidity levels took the heat index down into the 120s.
Several other locations, however, have joined in the misery. The southeastern Iranian city of Jask reported a feels-like temperature of 156 F (69 C) on Friday. Feels-like temperatures topped 130 F (55 C) Sunday in several other Iranian coastal cities, as well as in Qatar. The feels-like temperature reached 128 F (53 C) in Bahrain.
It is not uncommon for well-off Gulf citizens to decamp with their luxury cars and servants to cooler spots such as Britain or Switzerland as temperatures rise. Last week Saudi Arabia's King Salman, joined by a delegation numbering in the hundreds, was cooling off in the south of France, where high temperatures have been in the 80s F (28 to 32 C) in recent days.
Several Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, mandate midday breaks when temperatures are at their highest for low-paid migrant laborers during the summer months. But that only provides some relief as many still spend long hours working in the heat and travel to job sites on buses without air conditioning.

Five-Day Forecast

A Filipino migrant rights activist collapsed and later died of apparent heat stroke during a visit to his country's consulate in Dubai last week. Highs over the past week have hovered near 113 degrees (45 degrees Celsius) in Dubai, and the Dubai area has not reported a temperature below 90 F (32 C) even at night since July 24.
(FORECAST: Dubai)
Another of the hottest spots in the Gulf was Kuwait City, where the official high last Thursday was 121.3 F (49.6 C). The civil aviation authority's meteorological department forecast daytime conditions as "very hot" and overnight temperatures as "relatively hot," with moderate winds providing little relief.
Kuwaitis nonetheless took it in stride.
Nazem al-Ghabra, 31, who works in corporate communications, told the Associated Press: "We're used to this weather, and Kuwait is well-equipped for this harsh weather as almost everything is indoors, even car parking."
While Kuwait may be well-equipped for heat, this episode promises to be among the more extreme in modern recordkeeping.
Climatologist Maximiliano Herrera says Kuwait's national all-time record high is 53.6 degrees Celsius (128.5 degrees Fahrenheit) set at Sulaibya on July 31, 2012. The high reached 52.8 C (127.0 F) at Mitribah, Kuwait, on July 30. So far that is the highest temperature in Kuwait during this heat wave.
According to Herrera, the national heat records for both Iraq and Iran are both 53.0 C (127.4 degrees F) set in a heat wave at this time of year in 2011. (In Iran the record was tied in August 2014.)
The hottest temperature in Iraq in this heat wave was in Kanaqin, where the high on July 30 hit 52.0 C (125.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The capital, Baghdad, wasn't far behind at 51 degrees Celsius (123.8 degrees Fahrenheit); this appears to have tied the modern all-time record high for that city.
The World Meteorological Organization says the official record-high temperature for Asia, of which the Middle East is a part, is 129 degrees (54 degrees Celsius) set at Tivat Tsvi, Israel, on June 21, 1942. Herrera says this record is unreliable and lists the 2012 Kuwait record as Asia's record.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
MORE: Iraqi Heat Wave, July 2015