Islamabad: Midsummer temperature in Jacobabad, a city in Pakistan’s Sindh province, which is situated at the Tropic of Cancer, can soar up to 52°C (126 Fahrenheit). The city with 200,000 population has been known for its scorching heat. The severe heatwaves force residents to retreat inside their homes. “People do not come out of their houses and streets are mostly deserted when the temperature goes beyond 50°C”, Abdul Baqi, a shopkeeper told The Telegraph. “You can’t even stay on your feet, it gets that hot”, a resident told the portal.
Most of the hospitals in the city get flooded with heatstroke cases from those whose livelihoods mean they must venture out. Experts recently told a leading daily that with the mixture of heat and humidity the city has now officially surpassed the temperature threshold that the human body can withstand.
Last year, Matthews, who is a lecturer in climate science at Loughborough University with his colleagues had analyzed global weather station data and found that Jacobabad and Ras al Khaimah, northeast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, have both temporarily crossed the deadly threshold.
To reach the conclusion, researchers examined wet bulb temperatures. These are read by a thermometer covered in water-soaked cloth over which air is passed. At 100% relative humidity, the wet-bulb temperature is equal to the air temperature; at lower humidity, the wet-bulb temperature is lower than dry-bulb temperature because of evaporative cooling.
Jacobabad, an agriculture hub has surpassed this wet-bulb threshold several times. In July 1987, the city breached the 35 degrees Celcius, then again in June 2005, June 2010 and July 2012.
Researchers believed that wet-bulb reading of 35 degrees Celcius, can prove fatal even for the healthiest people as the body can no longer cool itself by sweating.
By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian
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