More on August Ramadan: Worst in 25 Years, or Maybe Ever?

I noted yesterday the difficulties of Ramadan fasting in the hot, long days of August, and discussed the issue at more length last year. This article in The National suggests this year will be particularly bad: the hottest in 25 years of record keeping, but it also suggests that given the global heat wave, it could be even worse than that. Temperatures from 45.2° to 49.2° Celsius are forecast (113° to 121° Fahrenheit) are forecast.

Okay, back when I was living in the region I decided I never wanted to convert anything above about 40° Celsius into Fahrenheit because I didn't want to know the temperature. Even so I can't remember evber being above 45° Celsius, about 113°F, and that was in Aswan in summer. But this article claims that Medina this summer hit 63° Celsius. If that is not a typo, that equates to 145° Fahrenheit. I have no idea if that's verified, since it'd usually said the highest temperature ever recorded was 57-58°C recorded in Libys in 1922, which would equate to about 136°F. It will be interesting to see if the Prophet's City broke all records and kicked Libya out of Guinness, but I will await the verdict of the experts.

Still, it's going to be a rough month without a drink of water.