COP 22- New highest temperature record (54.0°C) in Kuwait-WMO
By Houmi Ahamed-Mikidache
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) will set up a committee to examine the possible new highest temperature record in Kuwait in Mitrabah on 21 July 2016.
According to the WMO, large parts of the Middle East and North Africa were gripped by heatwaves . Temperatures exceeded by a large margin the seasonal averages, and over a sustained period. This affected, in particular, the northern part of countries in the Arabian Gulf and North Africa.
On July 21st, Mitrabah reportedly saw a high temperature of 54.0°C. In the city of Basra in Irak a temperature was recorded as 53.9°C on 22 July. Southern Morocco also saw temperatures of between 43°C and 47°C. With Climate Change, hot nights, heatwaves are more and more frequent
The refugee population in the Middle East were the most affected by the heat, even if Governments issued heat-health warnings and took measure to minimize impacts on population as a whole, the WMO notifies.
Meteorologists and climatologists will investigate into the temperatures in Kuwait for the WMO. The World Meteorological Organisation is responsible for the official archives of World Weather and Climate Extremes ( temperature, rainfall, wind gust, heaviest hailstone…).
The last hottest temperature recorded was in 1913, in California ( 56,7°C) indicates the WMO archive. However, there is another highest temperature recorded in Kebli ( 55.0°C), Tunisia in 1931. But weather historians do not believe in the accuracy of the colonial temperature records.
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