Jacobabad, a city of over 200,000 in Pakistan’s Sindh province has been always known for its extreme heat, but according to recent research, the city’s mixture of heat and humidity has made it one of only two places on earth to have now officially passed, although briefly, a level hotter than the human body can tolerate.
The city along the Indus Valley is one of the most vulnerable places to climate change in the world.
ALSO READ
Water Supply in Twin Cities Might Get Suspended
Tom Matthews, a lecturer in Climate Science at Loughborough University, said, “The Indus Valley is arguably close to being the number one spot worldwide. When you look at some of the things to worry about, from water security to extreme heat, it’s really the epicenter”.
Tom Matthews along with his colleagues analyzed global weather station data last year and found that Jacobabad and Ras al Khaimah, northeast of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have both crossed the deadly threshold temporarily.
ALSO READ
NCOC Relaxes Restrictions for Vaccinated People
In July 1987, Jacobabad crossed the 35C wet-bulb threshold for the first time and then again in June 2005, June 2010, and July 2012. The boundary crossed each time for just a few hours, however, the dry bulb temperature is often over 50C in summers in the city.
“Even though it’s theoretically been crossed according to the weather station measurements in that part of the world, whether or not it’s been crossed in the hyper-local environment where people are living, and for long enough to really translate into widespread deadly conditions, is another question,” Mathews said.
