Now that's a scorcher! Temperature in Iran hits 165F due to 'heat dome' over Middle East...

  while Iraq declares national holiday because it's too hot for people to go to work

 Reblogged from dailymail.co.uk

• City of Bandar Mahshahr registered heat index equivalent to 74C on Friday 
• Heat index - or 'feel-like' temperature - takes humidity into account
• AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Sagliani: 'It's one of the most incredible temperature observations I've ever seen... one of the most extreme readings ever in the world'
• High pressure ridge ('heat dome') over region since beginning of July
• Authorities in Iraq declared mandatory four-day holiday starting Thursday 
• Heat index in Baghdad yesterday was 126F (52C) 

By Nick Enoch for MailOnline

If the mercury heads north of 70F in Britain, the nation tends to go 'summer crazy' and breaks out the budgie smugglers, sandals and shorts.

But spare a thought for residents in the city of Bandar Mahshahr, south-west Iran, where 'hot' has taken on a whole new meaning.

Today, it reached a super-sweltering 165F (74C) on the heat index (or 'feel-like' temperature), taking into account humidity - making it one of the highest temperatures ever recorded.

Bandar Mahshahr's air temperature registered 115F (46C) coupled with a dew point temperature of 90F (32C) at 4.30pm local time.

Scroll down for video 

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Spare a thought for the residents of Bandar Mahshahr (above) in south-west Iran, where it reached a super-sweltering 165F (74C) on the heat index (or 'feel-like' temperature), taking into account humidity. This makes it one of the highest temperatures ever recorded

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The heat index combines the air temperature with the relative humidity in an attempt to determine a human-perceived equivalent temperature - or how hot it actually feels

'That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world,' said AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Sagliani. 

The city, which has a population of more than 200,000, is the capital of Iran's Mahshahr County in the Khuzestan Province.

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Residents had to endure a similarly stifling heat yesterday too, as the heat index climbed to 159f (70C) - and the forecast for the next few days gives little hope of respite.

The extreme weather has been triggered by a high pressure ridge - or 'heat dome' - over not just the Persian Gulf but the Middle East generally.

The highest known heat index ever attained was 178F (81C) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8, 2003. 

WHAT IS HEAT INDEX? 

The heat index combines the air temperature with the relative humidity in an attempt to determine a human-perceived equivalent temperature - or how hot it actually feels. 

For example, very high levels of humidity can make a 90 degree temperature feel like it's well over 100. 

Usually, the body cools itself by perspiring, which in turn evaporates and carries heat away from the body. 

However, when the relative humidity is high, the evaporation rate can be significantly reduced - and this process is compromised. 

As a result, the body has a harder time removing heat from itself, which makes it feel hotter than it actually is. 

                               Source: WeatherWorks 

And neighbouring countries are feeling the strain as well.

In Iraq yesterday, authorities declared a mandatory four-day holiday, to begin with immediate effect.

The government has urged residents to stay out of the sun and drink plenty of water.

But chronic electricity and water cuts in Iraq and other conflict-ridden countries make heatwaves like the present one even more unbearable - particularly for the more than 14 million people displaced by violence across the region.

In the southern Iraqi city of Basra earlier this month, protesters clashed with police as they demonstrated for better power services, leaving one person dead.

Unlike other countries in the region, Iraq lacks beaches, and travel restrictions make it difficult for people to escape the sweltering heat, leaving many - even those fortunate enough to live in their homes - with limited options for cooling off.

Some swim in rivers and irrigation canals, while others spend these days in air-conditioned shopping malls.

To the south, in the similarly sweltering Gulf, residents cranked up their air conditioners, and elsewhere in the Middle East, those who could headed to the beach to escape Thursday's soaring temperatures, high even by the standards of the region.

It is not uncommon for well-off Gulf citizens to decamp with their luxury cars and servants to cooler spots such as Britain or Switzerland as temperatures rise.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181600/Iran-temperature-hits-165F-heat-dome-Middle-East.html#v-4390753677001

Iraqi workers brave blistering heatwave in central Baghdad

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The extreme weather has been triggered by a high pressure ridge - or 'heat dome' - over the Middle East

Saudi Arabia's King Salman, joined by a delegation numbering in the hundreds, is currently cooling off in the south of France.

Several Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, mandate midday breaks when temperatures are at their highest for low-paid migrant labourers during the summer months.

But that only provides some relief as many still spend long hours working in the heat and travel to job sites on buses without air conditioning.

A Filipino migrant rights activist collapsed and later died of apparent heat stroke during a visit to his country's consulate in Dubai this week.

One of the hottest spots in the Gulf was Kuwait City, where Thursday temperatures were expected to reach 118F (48C).

The civil aviation authority's meteorological department forecast daytime conditions as 'very hot' and overnight temperatures as 'relatively hot,' with moderate winds providing little relief.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3181600/Iran-temperature-hits-165F-heat-dome-Middle-East.html#ixzz3hYN2KkRX

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Houtis - Avi Lipkin Part I

With prophetic implications, the Kurds, known as the Medes in the Bible, seize oil-rich region of Iraq. What does it mean?

Reblogged from:Joel C. Rosenberg's Blog

In Uncategorized on June 17, 2014 at 12:39 pm
 
(Washington, D.C.) — Could recent developments in Iraq have prophetic implications? Actually, the answer may be yes — especially with regards to the Kurdish people who live in northern Iraq. Let me explain.

As we’ve been seeing in recent weeks, the Radical jihadist forces of the “Islamic State of Iraq & al-Sham” (ISIS) are on the move towards Baghdad. They are leaving a trail of bloodshed and carnage in their wake.
The objective of the ISIS leaders is to topple the Iraqi government, seize control of all of Iraq, establish a jihadist state under Sharia law, and use Iraq to begin a regional — and eventually global — Islamic caliphate, or kingdom.

Now, the Kurdish leaders have taken advantage of the chaos of this moment to seize control of the oil-rich region of Kirkuk for themselves. (see AP story below)
The oil fields of Kirkuk have been a long-standing issue of controversy in Iraq, especially since the liberation of the country in 2003. Whoever controls those fields would control enormous wealth as the oil there is more fully developed and shipped to markets around the globe.

The Kurds, generally, are Sunni Muslims, but they are not ethnically Arabs. Indeed, many Kurds have a deep hatred for the Arabs. Several decades ago, the world create a special, protected, autonomous region for the Kurds in the north region of Iraq, after Saddam Hussein repeated attacked and tried to destroy the Kurds, including with the use of chemical weapons.

Ultimately, many Kurds want to create an independent country of their own, uniting Kurds living in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. Yet each of those national governments strongly oppose the creation of an independent Kurdistan.
What’s fascinating is that the modern Kurdish people were known in ancient, Biblical times as the Medes. Here is where things get interesting.

Bible prophecy indicates that in the End Times, as we get closer to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, God will allow the Medes to gain power, even as the Lord allows the Arabs to gain power and rebuild the kingdom of Babylon in the heart of Iraq.
The Book of Revelation, for example, tells us that Babylon will be the epicenter of evil in the last days of history, and will eventually face the judgment of God. The Hebrew prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel tell us this, as well, indicating Babylon will be completely destroyed and when the judgment is complete, Babylon will be completely uninhabitable. Indeed, Isaiah 13:20 says of Babylon, “It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.”

What’s more, Bible prophecy indicates that God will raise up the Medes — that is, the Kurdish people — to be an instrument of judgment against Babylon.

• Isaiah 13:17 — “Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them [the Babylonians]….”
• Jeremiah 51:11 — “The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the Lord….”
• Jeremiah 51:28-29 — “Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion. So the land quakes and writhes, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants….”

 How exactly will these eschatological prophecies come to pass? It’s too early to say for certain.
But after studying these prophecies, traveling four times to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, meeting with senior Kurdish leaders — including Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani — and tracking developments there over the past decade or so, I think it is fair to say we may be seeing some of the prophetic battle lines developing:

• The hatred of the Kurds/Medes against the Arabs, and vice versa, is steadily growing.
• The Kurds/Medes and the Arabs are in a continued struggle to control the oil resources that will make either or both of them enormously wealthy and powerful in the End Times.
• The Kurds/Medes are, step by step, forming into their nation, and possibly their own country.
• The Kurds/Medes are developing an increasingly effective military force that is able to overpower the Iraqi Arabs at times. 

Please keep the Kurdish people in your prayers. There are a growing number of truly born again Christians living in Kurdistan, including many MBBs, Muslim Background Believers. Please pray that they would boldly preach the Gospel, and be able to make many disciples, and help the believers that grow deep in their faith in Christ, especially amidst all the chaos and carnage. 
For more on the latest geopolitical developments, here are excerpts from a recent article from the Associated Press, “HOW THE KURDS SEIZED KIRKUK.”

• “After a decades-long dispute between Arabs and Kurds over the oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, it took just an hour and a half for its fate to be decided,” the Associated Press reports. “As al-Qaida-inspired militants advanced across northern Iraq and security forces melted away, Kurdish fighters who have long dominated Kirkuk ordered Iraqi troops out and seized full control of the regional oil hub and surrounding areas, according to a mid-ranking Army officer. He said he was told to surrender his weapons and leave his base.
• His account was corroborated by an Arab tribal sheik and a photographer who witnessed the looting of army bases after troops left and who related similar accounts of the takeover from relatives in the army. All three spoke to The Associated Press Friday on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from Kurdish forces.
• “They said they would defend Kirkuk from the Islamic State,” said the Arab officer, who oversaw a warehouse in the city’s central military base. He asked that his rank not be made public.
• He insisted the Iraqi troops had not planned to retreat before the Islamic state. “We were ready to battle to death. We were completely ready,” he said at a roadside rest house just inside the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
• The Kurdish takeover of the long-disputed city came days after the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other Sunni militants seized much of the country’s second largest city of Mosul and Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit before driving south toward Baghdad. Their lightning advance has plunged the country into its worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops.
• A spokesman for Kurdish forces, known as the peshmerga, said they had only moved in after Iraqi troops retreated, assuming control of the “majority of the Kurdistan region” outside the semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government.
• “Peshmerga forces have helped Iraqi soldiers and military leaders when they abandoned their positions,” including by helping three generals to fly back to Baghdad from the Kurdish regional capital Erbil, Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar said in a statement on the regional government’s website….
• Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, is home to Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, who all have competing claims to the oil-rich area. Kurds have long wanted to incorporate it into their self-ruled region, but Arabs and Turkmen are opposed.
• In the 1970s and 1980s the Arab-dominated government in Baghdad drove hundreds of thousands of Kurds out of Kirkuk and surrounding regions, settling Arabs from the south in their place in an attempt to pacify a region that had seen repeated revolts.
• During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 the highly disciplined peshmerga swept down from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region and established a strong presence in a belt of largely Kurdish towns and villages stretching south toward Baghdad.
• But the disintegration of Iraqi forces this week seems to have led the peshmerga to assume full control in areas they have long coveted, further enhancing their autonomy from Baghdad and undermining hard-fought U.S. efforts to bring about a stable, multiethnic Iraq.
• “To a great extent Kurdish forces had been de facto in control of Kirkuk for some time, but now they’re completely in control,” said F. Gregory Gause, III, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.
• He said it was unlikely the Kurds would seek formal independence from Iraq, however, because such a move would be strongly opposed by neighboring Turkey and Iran — both of which have sizable Kurdish minorities — as well as Washington.