Heat index in Iran hits staggering 163 degrees Fahrenheit

1. In the deserts of Arizona in the mid 1970s I once had to live without air conditioning in temperatures into the 120s because we were doing assaying work for a mining company I was a working partner in. This wasn't something I wanted to repeat ever again. When I thought I might pass out (there were no hospitals for 50 to 70 miles from where I was then) I got on my 1974 Honda XL 250 (dirt and street motorcycle) and dipped my t-shirt into the pond created by the windmill for local animals by the Fish and Game department in the U.S. and rode my motorcycle down dry washes to try to cool down to stay conscious the rest of the day. At night around 6 AM it got down to around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. So, I was really happy to leave there and do something else after that. We camped in the back of my Dad's pickup truck so we wouldn't have to sleep with scorpions or rattlesnakes or other desert creatures at night. So, this is something to think about when you camp in the desert. Either you want to be inside a tent or in your vehicle to avoid scorpion or rattlesnake bites.(By the way a rattlesnake can bite you through most tent walls. I don't know about scorpions and if they can bite you through a tent wall.) Sleeping out into the open isn't really a very good idea unless for a really short time while you are still awake and can protect yourself from desert critters. For example, if the temperature is 70 to 80 during the day, at night it gets down to 30 to 40 just before dawn often in the deserts of California and Arizona, so cold blooded creatures can't move or defend themselves when it gets cold unless they crawl underground. So, they prefer to stay above ground and crawl into your sleeping bag with you. So, when you wake up and start moving around you will get bit. Crawling into your sleeping bag since you are giving off warmth seems like a really great idea to them when you are asleep and not moving. It's just a survival strategy for them until you wake up.

1.  Heat index in Iran hits staggering 163 degrees -...

   www.usatoday.com/.../31/heat-index-iran-163-degrees/30933451Cached

   Jul 30, 2015 · Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, soared to a staggering heat index of 163 degrees Friday afternoon as a heat wave continued to bake the Middle East, already one of ... 

   Heat index in Iran hits staggering 163 degrees

   
   
   

   Doyle Rice, USA TODAY 3:48 p.m. EDT July 31, 2015

   
   

   
   
   

   

   (Photo: Khalid Mohammed, AP)

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   Bandar Mahshahr, Iran, soared to a staggering heat index of 163 degrees Friday afternoon as a heat wave continued to bake the Middle East, already one of the hottest places on earth.
   "That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen, and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world," AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Sagliani said in a statement.
   While the temperature was "only" 115 degrees, the dew point was an unfathomable 90 degrees. On Thursday, the Iranian city of about 100,000 reached a heat index of 154 degrees. The combination of heat and humidity, measured by the dew point, is what makes the heat index — or what the temperature actually feels like outside.
   "A strong ridge of high pressure has persisted over the Middle East through much of July, resulting in the extreme heat wave in what many would consider one of the hottest places in the world," Sagliani said.
   Baghdad sweltered to its all-time record high on Thursday when temperatures soared to 124 degrees, AccuWeather reported. The heat was so bad that Iraq's Council of Ministers declared a four-day mandatory holiday throughout the country starting Thursday.
   Little relief is in the forecast. "The ridge of high pressure will remain in place across the Middle East through at least the next week, so more oppressive heat and humidity, and more astounding apparent temperatures, are likely through the next several days," Sagliani said.
   Along with the Red Sea coast of Ethiopia and the Gulf of Aden coast of Somalia, the Persian Gulf region is known for a fierce combination of heat and humidity, according to the book Extreme Weather by Christopher Burt. Sea water temperatures there can be in the upper 80s and low 90s, he writes, so the ocean "has no cooling effect on coastal communities and provides an ample source of moisture in the form of humidity."
   Though not an official record, the highest heat index ever recorded was in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Burt writes, when it hit 178 degrees in July 2003.
   

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   Heat index in Iran hits staggering 163 degrees -...