TEHRAN (AP) – Iran announced a nationwide two-day holiday because of increasing temperatures, state media reported on Tuesday.
Government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the decision to close governmental offices, banks and schools yesterday and today came after the Health Ministry warned about a possible increase in cases of heat exhaustion because of high temperatures, the official IRNA news agency reported.
In recent days, cities and towns in Iran saw temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius (oC). The capital, Tehran, experienced 38oC on Tuesday. The metrological office predicted Tehran would see temperatures of 39oC over the next three days.
Ahvaz, the capital of an oil-rich province in the country’s southwest, experienced 50oC on Tuesday.
In 2022, Iran registered its hottest temperature at 53oC in Ahvaz.
Earth’s hottest day in modern history was likely on July 4, when the average global
temperature reached 17.18oC. It was mainly blamed on climate change and emerging El Nino pattern.
The highest registered air temperature on earth is 56.7oC, recorded on July 10, 1913, in Death Valley in the United States.
