Middle East Heat Wave Reaches Record Levels

Temperatures accross the Middle East this week have soared above 100 F in an unprecedented heat wave forcing residents to stay indoors. 

​In the Iranian city of Basrah, which is located in the epicenter of the heat wave, temperatures climbed 120 F for the seventh day in a row on Saturday, 

To the north, the Iraqi capital recorded a fourth consecutive day in the 120s on Saturday, and has reached at least 100 F every day since May 30.

Governments from both countries have been forced to declare public holidays to protect people from the sweltering temperatures. 

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Despite government efforts to mitigate the blistering heat, Iraqi citizens have encountered widespread power outages and electricity blackouts.

Summer blackouts are common as Iraq's power grid, damaged by U.S. bombing in 2003, struggles with the extreme heat.

The length, frequency and intensity of heat waves will likely increase over most land areas during this century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

Extreme weather events, such as heat waves, have had devestating effects in India and Pakistan in recent weeks.

More than 2,200 people died in India from a heat wave in late May as temperatures exceeded 108 degrees.

In late June, the death toll in Pakistan's devastating heat wave has shot past 1,000, making it the worst heat wave to hit the country's southern city of Karachi in at least 35 years.

Additional extraordinary heat-related events this year include:

• Alaska experienced its warmest May in 91 years, with temperatures 5.6 degrees above average.
• Spain experienced its warmest May since 1964, with temperatures 4.3 degrees above average.
• The Northern Hemisphere, where most people live, experienced its warmest spring (March-May) on record.
• All the major ocean basins experienced record-high temperatures.