A study warning of “intolerable” temperatures in some Middle East population centers due to climate change could have severe consequences for the annual hajj pilgrimage. Credit Ahmad Masood/Reuters By the end of this century, areas of the Persian Gulf could be hit by waves of heat and humidity so severe that simply being outside for several hours could threaten human life, according to a new study published Monday. Because of humanity’s contribution to climate change , the authors wrote, some population centers in the Middle East “are likely to experience temperature levels that are intolerable to humans.” The dangerously muggy summer conditions predicted for places near the warm waters of the Gulf could overwhelm the ability of the human body to reduce its temperature through sweating and ventilation. That threatens anyone without air-conditioning — including the poor, but also those […]