Thousands of the people gathering at Mecca for Hajj this year were treated for heat stress during the event.
Temperatures were in the 40s for a week from what I can gather, and this year’s Hajj was billed as “the largest in history” with over 2 million people gathering.
From the article:
To tackle the issue, the kingdom has put in place some measures to minimize the chances of heat stroke and other ailments. Worshippers at the Grand Mosque are being sprayed with water via automatic cooling systems, and free bottles and umbrellas are being distributed.
Temperatures in the Middle East are warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, meaning that it is becoming increasingly hotter than when the Prophet Muhammad first inaugurated the Hajj in the 7th century.
Bet the Saudi’s won’t be stopping the oil from flowing though.
43.8°C is so hot. I’ve experienced low 40’s in Greece one summer, after being there for over a month. It was hot but going from high teens in the UK to low 30s gave me heatstroke. Awful.
I experienced a week at 47°C in Central America once. Nobody went outside, you’d run from one building to another and you couldn’t walk on the ground in bare feet. It felt like you couldn’t breathe, and you barely pee despite drinking litres of water every day. I can’t imagine living through that once a year.