KUWAIT/DUBAI: The real summer season will start in Kuwait on June 7, 2025, Al-Ujairi Scientific Center announced on Saturday. That date marks the start of the ‘Thuraiya’ season, when the atmosphere becomes noticeably drier and temperatures gradually increase, it said.

The interior ministry on Friday announced a ban on consumer delivery motorcycles from operating on all roads across the country from June 1 until the end of August. The ban will be in effect daily from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, part of a ban on all outdoor work during the summer months. The ministry warned that failure to comply with the ban will result in a breach of permit conditions.

The United Arab Emirates breached its May temperature record for the second day in a row, hitting 51.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, within touching distance of the highest ever temperature recorded in the country. “The highest temperature recorded over the country today is 51.6C in Sweihan (Al Ain) at 13:45 UAE local time (0945 GMT),” the National Center of Meteorology said in a post on X, just 0.4C off the overall heat record in the Gulf country.

The meteorology office told AFP the highest ever temperature recorded in the UAE since documentation began in 2003 was reported at 52C on Abu Dhabi’s Al Yasat Island in 2010.

The desert nation, a top global oil exporter, lies in one of the planet’s hottest regions and one which is particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The temperature in Sweihan – which lies 97 km west of Abu Dhabi – and of 50.4C a day earlier in the Emirati capital exceeded the previous record for May of 50.2 Celsius recorded in 2009, according to the meteorology office. On Saturday in Dubai, where high temperatures in the mid-40 degrees Celsius were recorded, motorists complained air conditioning in their cars was struggling to stifle the sweltering heat, surprised the phenomenon had hit so early in the year.

On the streets, Dubai inhabitants were still out and about – some armed with parasols – and vendors selling water and local juice bars appeared to enjoy an uptick in customers. The UAE, host of the COP28 climate talks in 2023, has just emerged from a record-breaking April with an average daily high of 42.6 degrees Celsius.

Worshippers at Friday prayers reported feeling faint and some residents appeared unsteady on their feet, even in a country that is accustomed to extreme temperatures. “The weather was extremely hot today, unbearably so,” said one 26-year-old Abu Dhabi resident, who said he arrived at the mosque late and had to pray outside. “I was drenched in sweat by the end of the prayers,” he said, preferring not to give his name, adding that he felt like he was “about to faint”.

Friday’s temperatures were accompanied by high humidity of up to 80 percent in some parts of Abu Dhabi. “I literally saw someone swaying right and left before he stopped by the side of the street,” said Dubai-based marketing specialist Mohammed Juma, 31. “God help people, truly.” Youssef, 45, who operates hot air balloons for tourists in Dubai, said the “suffocating” conditions made him feel “unable to do anything at all”. “The whole problem is in the humidity. The air had no oxygen,” said the 45-year-old, who did not want to give his full name.

Scientists have shown that recurring heatwaves are a clear marker of global warming and that these heatwaves are set to become more frequent, longer and more intense. The number of extremely hot days has nearly doubled globally in the past three decades. Outdoor workers in Arab states face some of the highest exposure to heat stress in the world, with 83.6 percent suffering from excessive heat exposure on the job, according to a 2024 report from the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency.

According to a 2022 Greenpeace study, the Middle East is at high risk of water and food scarcity as well as severe heat waves as a result of climate change. The report, which focused on six countries including the UAE, found the region was warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, making its food and water supplies “extremely vulnerable” to climate change. - Agencies