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#Temperatures in Iraq hit 126 degrees in record heatwave

“#Temperatures in Iraq hit 126 degrees in record heatwave”

August 7, 2020 | 4:11pm

An Iraqi youth dives into the river in the Shatt Al-Arab river in the southern port city of Basra.

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People take a swim in the Tigris River to cool from the heatwave.

dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

A worker carries an ice block at the ice factory in Al-Shula district in Baghdad.

dpa/picture alliance via Getty I

An Iraqi man walks by a water sprinkler on a hot summer day in Baghdad.

AFP via Getty Images

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Folks in Iraq aren’t hot on this weather trend.

Temperatures soared to a scorching 126 degrees in Baghdad last week — the hottest ever recorded in the city, according to a report.

The sweltering heat, which comes during the country’s hottest summer ever, sparked power outages that forced locals to endure the weather without air conditioning, Bloomberg News reported.

To stay cool, many young residents rushed to swimming holes.

“The reason we come here is because of the power blackout,” one teenage boy, who was swimming in a river with friends, told the outlet. “It’s exhausting to stay home without it.”

The report doesn’t note which day the new record was set but the Washington Post reported that temperatures in the city rose to more than 125 degrees on July 28.

The hottest day previously recorded in Baghdad was in June, 2015, when the city hit 124 degrees.