Iraq: Heat Wave Hits Iraq—and Sparks Begin to Fly

Jun 16, 2019 | Bassem Al-Rikaby and Khalil Jalil, Phys.org
View Original

Hospital ventilators shut down, football matches with obligatory water breaks and food spoiling in fridges without power: Iraq's notorious summer has arrived. As one of the hottest countries in the world with around half of its terrain covered in desert, Iraq is no stranger to stiflingly hot summers. But even by its own standards, this June has been a sizzler—averaging a daily 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit), compared to around 40 in previous years.