Middle East heat-wave "could be a regional record"- UN Weather Expert

A blistering heat-wave that's been making life uncomfortable for millions of people in the Middle East could be a new temperature record, UN weather experts said Tuesday.

The announcement by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) comes after thermometers in Kuwait peaked at 54 degrees Centigrade on Thursday 21 July.

A special committee is being set up to examine the evidence to see if the reading is a new high for the eastern hemisphere and Asia.

WMO's Omar Baddour said that climate change and higher concentrations of so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere helped contribute to higher temperatures.

Nonetheless, he said, records depend on many other factors: "To reach such records you need to have very complex combination of factors including air circulation, the influence of the sea, the season and the environment, et cetera, et cetera. Those conditions are not always met frequently."

The current world record stands at 56.7 degrees Centigrade; it was registered in Death Valley, California, in 1913.

SOURCE: UN Radio