54C Recorded In Kuwait Likely Hottest On Record In Asia (foxnews.com)

An anonymous reader writes from an Associated Press report: The UN weather agency said it suspects that the 54C temperature recorded in Kuwait has set a record for the eastern hemisphere. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said Tuesday it is setting up a committee to look into whether the temperature recorded last Thursday in Mitrabah, Kuwait, was a new high for the eastern hemisphere and in Asia. WMO's Omar Baddour said it is "likely" to be an eastern hemisphere record. Last week, swathes of the Middle East and North Africa and were hit by heatwaves that have become more frequent over the last half-century, and Earth is fresh off the hottest six months on record. WMO says the world record high of 56.7C was recorded at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, in 1913. In the UAE, highs of 49C are expected inland on Wednesday. Last year, the mercury rose above 50C in Sweiham, near Al Ain.An article on Citylab, citing NOAA's latest analysis notes that it was the warmest June in the modern history and also the 14th consecutive month of unprecedented hotness.

Comments

That's 129.2F if you're interested.

[Phasedshift]

That's 129.2F if you're interested.

Re:That's 129.2F if you're interested.

[jfbilodeau]

I hope you realize that 129.2F means absolutely nothing to the majority of the world. ;)

Re:That's 129.2F if you're interested.

[jbengt]

Most air-cooled AC condensing units in the US are rated at 95F outside temperature. If it gets much above 105F outside, you better double check how it will actually work (or not), or maybe special order something that can work at those temperatures.

Re:You made the bed. Now sleep in it.

[mrchaotica]

The problem is that areas had record cold this past winter, and "deniers" get slammed for correlating a weather event to global climate change

Record cold can be evidence for global warming. The key is to understand what "warming" actually is: adding energy to the system. Consider a glass of water. What happens when you add energy to it by shaking it? The answer is, it sloshes around -- the maximum height of the water surface gets higher, and the minimum height gets lower. Or consider the refrigeration thermodynamic cycle: one part of the system gets colder even though the total energy of the system is increasing.

That's not to say that record cold is always evidence of global warming, or indeed that it could never be evidence of an oncoming ice age. I'm just pointing out that the issue is more complicated than "record cold = cooling" or "record heat = heating" considered in isolation. We only know that record heat actually is evidence for heating because it's been observed as part of a larger pattern and was predicted by climate models and such (i.e., all the actual science that climatologists do that a Fox News sound bite is inadequate to explain).