March 17, 2024
Worlds hottest city now so hot its unliveable - and the streets have air-con
Heatwaves felt in Europe during the summer months are nothing compared to the searing conditions in Kuwait City. (Image: AFP via Getty Images.) Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest top news stories sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice A city considered to be the warmest on earth is now so hot the streets have air-con. The Middle Eastern city is almost unliveable, with temperatures in the summer hitting more than 50C. Kuwait City's temperatures regularly smash 52C and 54C, the third highest in the world, was registered by its Mitribah weather station in July 2016. For 19 days in 2021, gauges breached 50C as the country heats up quicker than the average for the rest of the world, and climate experts believe they will soar by a further 5.5C by the end of the century. With a population of around 4.4 million people, and covering an area a little smaller than Wales, it has amassed no small fortune exploiting its Oil reserves over the past century, which are the seventh-largest in the world. (Image: AFP via Getty Images.) Read More Related Articles Iceland volcano erupts again 'without warning' as lava spews hundreds of feet in the air Read More Related Articles Driver found hiding from cops in hedge after fleeing huge crash The Mirror reports heat waves felt in Europe during the summer months are nothing compared to the searing conditions of the city in question. It is so hot the temperatures recorded even dwarf the brutally hot weather which has previously hit Spain, Italy, France and the UK in recent years. Annual rainfall has been dropping in the already arid country, the frequency and intensity of dust storms increasing as a result. Reports claim birds have dropped dead from the sky and seahorses have boiled in the bay – but it’s not just nature at risk. The smartest pigeons huddle together in the shade. Halfway to water’s boiling point and 13C (55F) above body temperature, beyond being unhealthy, 50C is dangerous to humans as well. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on BREAKING news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile , select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Prolonged exposure can result in heat exhaustion, cardiovascular problems and even death, reports the Express.co.uk. The concrete and asphalt capital, Kuwait City, is becoming unliveable, and the locals know why. Speaking to AFP, date merchant Abdullah Ashkanani said excessive energy consumption had “brought this heat to Kuwait.” This year, for the first time, the Kuwaiti government has issued an edict allowing funerals to be conducted at night. Once a thriving trade and fishing hub dubbed the “Marseilles of the Gulf”, the discovery of oil in the 1930s has since come to define Kuwait City. The oil-rich and others who can afford it these days rarely venture outdoors, preferring the comfort of air conditioning in their homes, offices or local malls. There is now an entire indoor shopping street, lined with palm trees and European-style boutiques. Annual rainfall has been dropping in the already arid country. (Image: AFP via Getty Images.) Read More Related Articles 'Gangster' facing 25 years in jail over gunpoint extortion works as Uber driver Read More Related Articles police hunt for tracksuit-clad teenage thugs who attacked three men in Scots town According to a 2020 study, fully two-thirds (67 per cent) of total electricity consumption in residences is thought to come from air conditioning units running all day, every day. Joshua Wood, writing in ExpatsExchange , notes the “high quality of life” in a country that is “modern, luxurious and safe”, yet cautions that it is “very hot from May through September” and “insanely hot” in June, July and August. This isn’t to say the streets are deserted, however. Migrant workers, predominantly from Arab, South and South East Asian countries, make up roughly 70 percent of the country’s population. Thanks to a controversial kafala system, people flock to Kuwait to make a living in construction or domestic services. They line the streets and fill the sweltering public buses of the capital. Research published by the Institute of Physics last year found migrant workers were particularly vulnerable to adverse health effects from heat exposure. By the end of the century, it claims, climate change could increase the number of heat-related deaths by 5.1 per cent to 11.7 per cent across the whole population, but by up to 15 per cent for non-Kuwaitis. Environmental warnings generally fall on deaf ears. At 25 tonnes of CO2 per capita per year, Kuwaitis have the third-largest carbon footprint in the world, behind only Bahrain and Qatar . However, while peers such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have made net-zero pledges for the coming decades, Kuwait’s COP26 promise was to curtail emissions by a measly 7.4 per cent by 2035. Read More Related Articles Scots cops probe death of woman after body found on remote road Read More Related Articles Mystery of missing Annie Dryden deepens as cops search moors for 20-year-old Energy demand will triple by 2030, according to Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity and Water, with an expected rise in indoor cooling usage likely to blame. Up to 95 per cent of Kuwaitis' electricity costs are subsidised by the government, so individuals have little incentive to cut back. It’s a similar story for water, 99 per cent of which comes from energy-intensive desalination. To put it mildly, Salman Zafar wrote for EcoMENA that: "Kuwait could be potentially facing serious impacts of global warming in the form of floods, droughts, depletion of aquifers". It is also liable to "inundation of coastal areas, frequent sandstorms, loss of biodiversity, significant damage to ecosystem, threat to agricultural production and outbreak of diseases.” Top news stories today Girl hacked off hair after racist abuse Girl died on hols from hidden condition Call for drug use to be decriminalised Muscle from arm fills hole in throat Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond. Sign up to our daily newsletter . Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow Daily Record Facebook Twitter Comment More On Middle East Environment immigration Weather Bad Weather
Related Stories
Latest News
Top news around the world
Academy Awards

‘Oppenheimer’ Reigns at Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture and Director

Get the latest news about the 2024 Oscars, including nominations, winners, predictions and red carpet fashion at 96th Academy Awards

Around the World

Celebrity News

> Latest News in Media

Watch It
JoJo Siwa Reveals She Spent $50k on This Cosmetic Procedure
April 08, 2024
tilULujKDIA
Gypsy Rose Blanchard Files for Divorce from Ryan Anderson
April 08, 2024
kjqE93AL4AM
Bachelor Nation’s Trista Sutter Shares Update on Husband’s Battle With Lyme Disease | E! News
April 08, 2024
mNBxwEpFN4Y
Alan Tudyk Does All His Disney Voices
April 08, 2024
fkqBY4E9QPs
Bob Iger responds to critics who call Disney "too woke"
April 06, 2024
loZMrwBYVbI
Kirsten Dunst recites a classic cheer from 'Bring it On'
April 06, 2024
VHAca3r0t-k
Dr. Paul Nassif Offers Up Plastic Surgery Warning for Gypsy Rose Blanchard | TMZ
April 09, 2024
cXIyPm8mKGY
Reba McEntire Laughs at Joy Behar's Suggestion 'Jolene' is Anti-Feminist | TMZ TV
April 08, 2024
11Cyp1sH14I
NeNe Leakes Says She's Okay with Cheating If It's Done Respectfully | TMZ TV
April 08, 2024
IsjAeJFgwhk
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s wedding was 20 years in the making
April 08, 2024
BU8hh19xtzA
Bianca Censori wears completely sheer tube dress and knee-high stockings for Kanye West outing
April 08, 2024
IkbdMacAuhU
Kelsea Ballerini tells trolls to ‘shut up’ about pantsless CMT Music Awards 2024 performance #shorts
April 08, 2024
G4OSTYyXcOc
TV Schedule
Late Night Show
Watch the latest shows of U.S. top comedians

Sports

Latest sport results, news, videos, interviews and comments
Latest Events
08
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Udinese - Inter Milan
07
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Manchester United - Liverpool
07
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur - Nottingham Forest
07
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Fiorentina
07
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Sheffield United - Chelsea
07
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Monza - Napoli
07
Apr
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Wolfsburg - Borussia Monchengladbach
07
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Verona - Genoa
07
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Cagliari - Atalanta
07
Apr
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Hoffenheim - Augsburg
07
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Frosinone - Bologna
06
Apr
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Heidenheim - Bayern Munich
06
Apr
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund - Stuttgart
06
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Brighton - Arsenal
06
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Roma - Lazio
06
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Crystal Palace - Manchester City
06
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
AC Milan - Lecce
04
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Chelsea - Manchester United
04
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Liverpool - Sheffield United
03
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Arsenal - Luton
03
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
Manchester City - Aston Villa
02
Apr
ENGLAND: Premier League
West Ham United - Tottenham Hotspur
01
Apr
SPAIN: La Liga
Villarreal - Atletico Madrid
01
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Lecce - Roma
01
Apr
ITALY: Serie A
Inter Milan - Empoli
31
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Manchester City - Arsenal
31
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Real Madrid - Athletic Bilbao
31
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Liverpool - Brighton
30
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Barcelona - Las Palmas
30
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Brentford - Manchester United
30
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Fiorentina - AC Milan
Find us on Instagram
at @feedimo to stay up to date with the latest.
Featured Video You Might Like
zWJ3MxW_HWA L1eLanNeZKg i1XRgbyUtOo -g9Qziqbif8 0vmRhiLHE2U JFCZUoa6MYE UfN5PCF5EUo 2PV55f3-UAg W3y9zuI_F64 -7qCxIccihU pQ9gcOoH9R8 g5MRDEXRk4k
Copyright © 2020 Feedimo. All Rights Reserved.