Scorching Start to Summer: Basra Boils at 49°C as Heat Claims Lives of Cadets
The premature heatwave has already turned deadly. On Sunday, two cadets lost their lives and several others were hospitalized for heat stroke during a training assignment at a military academy in Dhi Qar province.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Iraq is already in the grip of searing heat, with temperatures soaring to a blistering 49 degrees Celsius (120°F) in the southern city of Basra on Thursday — marking the highest temperature recorded in the country so far this year, according to AFP.
"It is the highest temperature recorded in Iraq this year," said Amer al-Jabiri, spokesperson for the national weather center, in comments to AFP. He noted that the early arrival of such extreme heat is in stark contrast to last year, when temperatures remained relatively moderate through May.
The premature heatwave has already turned deadly. On Sunday, two cadets lost their lives and several others were hospitalized for heat stroke during a training assignment at a military academy in Dhi Qar province. Iraq’s Defense Ministry reported that nine cadets exhibited signs of exhaustion and sun-related fatigue while waiting to be assigned to their battalions under the scorching sun.
In response, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has ordered a full investigation into the tragic deaths.
While Iraqis are no strangers to summer extremes — with July and August often pushing past 50°C — the acceleration of heat this early in the season has raised alarm. Meteorologists warn that the heat spike could be a harbinger of an even more brutal summer ahead, especially in a country already reeling from the harsh impacts of climate change.
The United Nations ranks Iraq among the five countries most vulnerable to climate change. Years of prolonged drought, declining water resources, and frequent dust storms have only compounded the country’s environmental and public health crises.
As the mercury rises earlier each year, Iraq’s infrastructure — and its people — face growing pressure to withstand the deadly consequences of a warming planet.
