The Middle East is no stranger to blistering heat. But one city in Iran has challenged the all-time global record high heat index during the past two days, with a heat index of about 154 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, and a staggering 164 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday.
The city of Bandar Mahshahr has a population of about 110,000 people. On Thursday, the actual air temperature reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius, with a dew point of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, or 43 degrees Celsius. This translated to a heat index of 154 degrees Fahrenheit, or 67.8 degrees Celsius.
The heat index, which is how hot the air feels when combining the air temperature and relative humidity, was even higher than this based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) heat index calculator.
This calculator showed a heat index on Thursday of 159 degrees Fahrenheit, though that is not used in all countries.
Bandar Mahshahr sits adjacent to the Persian Gulf in southwest Iran where water temperatures are in the 90s. Such high temperatures lead to some of the most oppressive humidity levels in the world when winds blow off the water.The ocean temperatures in the Persian Gulf are currently in the low-to-mid 90s Fahrenheit, bringing startlingly high levels of humidity to coastal areas in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other countries.
This city got no relief on Friday, either. According to temperature data on Weather Underground, Bandar Mahshahr saw a high temperature on Friday of 113.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 46 degrees Celsius.
At that time, the dew point was, once again, 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which yielded a heat index of 163 degrees Fahrenheit, or 72.7 degrees Celsius! Such high heat indices can be deadly if one is exposed to the heat for an extended period of time.
Based on the NOAA calculator, this temperature and dew point combo would actually yield a heat index of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
This would be high enough to rival the all-time global record, according to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog, citing records maintained by weather historian Christopher Burt.
"In his book Extreme Weather, Burt says Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, also on the Persian Gulf, logged a heat index of around 155-160 degrees on July 8, 2003. Its air temperature was 108 degrees, with a dew point of 95," the Post reported.
@anthonywx Same data with the more well-known heat index: 159° peak. But practically speaking, doesn't matter much! pic.twitter.com/jINhU0mC5d— Brian McNoldy (@BMcNoldy) July 31, 2015
The extreme heat in Iran comes in the midst of a Mideast-wide heat wave, with the Iraqi government having declared a mandatory four-day heat holiday as temperatures climbed to 122 degrees Fahrenheit in Baghdad two days in a row, which is just two degrees Fahrenheit shy of the city's all-time high temperature record.