It Is 124 Degrees in This City Now, Which Is Deadly

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
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It Is 124 Degrees in This City Now, Which Is Deadly

© aljazeeraenglish / Flickr

Hot temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit are not unusual through parts of India, Pakistan and some nations in the Middle East. Temperatures over 120 degrees are, however, extraordinary. The temperature at the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq topped 124 degrees today. In nearby Kerbala, which is southeast of Baghdad, the figure was the same.

The two locations in Iraq are in the center of the country, about equidistant from Kuwait in the south and Syria in the north. Cities in parts of these two countries are also often above 120 degrees.

Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, has just over 7.1 million residents. Consulting firm Mercer annually ranks the quality of cities. Baghdad ranked dead last of the 231 cities measured. The rating is based on safety, the political environment, the economic environment, medical health, public services and transportation, schools and housing, among other things.

The Mayo Clinic points out the dangers of extremely hot weather. Heatstroke begins when the body reaches 104 degrees. Unless the condition is treated quickly, the brain, kidneys and muscles can be damaged. Without rapid treatment, humans can experience “serious complications” or death, the medical center reports.

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The heat levels in Baghdad can easily kill hundreds of people. Deaths from heat are also common in India and Pakistan.

The Baghdad International Airport is located on the eastern edge of the city. It is one of the largest airports in the Middle East and serves about 7 million travelers a year. It is a major hub for Iraq Air, Emirates and Qatar Airways.

Global experts warn that the hottest areas in the world will get much hotter. Scientific American recently reported that temperatures in these extremely hot areas could rise as much as five degrees. That could put temperatures in the Middle East, India and Pakistan over 130 degrees during the hottest times of the year. Many humans cannot survive long at that temperature.
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Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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