Could You Endure A Heat Index of 140? People In Persian Gulf Are Trying, But It's Dangerous

The heat index in the Persian Gulf region has been
pushing 150 degrees lately, which is of course
highly dangerous. They've always had extreme
heat there, but climate change is making
it even worse. 

 For those of you complaining about how oppressive the weather has been in Vermont until we got this little break, here's an "it could always be worse" story. 

We could always take a little excursion to the Persian Gulf. As the Washington Post reports:

"Some locations have seen the heat index, or how it feels when factoring in the humidity reach 140 top 150 degrees Fahrenheit (60 to 65 Celsius), fueled buy an intense heat dome, the warmest water temperatures in the world and the influence of human-caused climate change.

Temperatures at the Persian Gulf International Airport in Asaluyeh, Iran claimed to 108 on Wednesday and 106 on Thursday, with both days recording a peak heat index of 149. In Dubai, the temperature topped out at 113 on Tuesday and the heat index soared to 144."

Actual temperatures in the region were in the 105 to 115 degree range in recent days, which for the Persian Gulf is only a little hotter than normal. But the humidity has been off the charts, which explains the scary heat indexes. 

There have been record highs in the region earlier this month. A spot in the United Arab Emirates reached 123 degrees. Adrar, Algeria, reached 122 degrees. Cities in both Kuwait and Iraq got to a blistering 126 degrees.

All this has led to the Persian Gulf having the hottest surface waters in the world with a temperature of at least 95 degrees.

The hot water doesn't spread thunderstorms inland like the warm Gulf of Mexico often does in the United States. But it does pull in the extreme humidity. 

Of course, summers have always been dangerously hot around the Persian Gulf and many other places in the Mideast and Africa. But climate change is nudging the extreme heat to ever more dangerous levels. Another episode in the region last summer brought a heat index to 158 degrees. 

For comparison to all this, our current hot summer here in temperate Vermont have so far peaked at just above 100 degrees on the worst days. This is clearly dangerous for people over-exerting themselves or who have health issues and no access to air conditioning. But it obviously pales in comparison to the Persian Gulf.