‘This heat is not normal’: what life is like in cities where thermometers reach 50ºC

Two women cover their faces with their hands, trying to protect themselves from the sun, both wear spaghetti strap blouses and carry bags and backpacks Tânia Rêgo/Agência Brasil via BBC Brazil faces a heat wave in the first week of summer 2025/2026 that has lasted for days. According to the National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), it affects the entire State of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and parts of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná and Santa Catarina. The phenomenon causes temperatures to be up to 5ºC above normal for this time of year in all these areas. For the second day in a row on Friday (26/12), the city of São Paulo recorded a heat record for the month of December, reaching 36.2ºC. In recent days, the State of Rio de Janeiro has recorded more than 2,000 visits from people feeling ill due to the heat at health centers. In the capital of Rio de Janeiro alone, there were more than 1,000 consultations between the 23rd, 24th and 25th of December, according to the Municipal Health Department. The temperature records show that the climate crisis is no longer a concern for the future. In many parts of the world, it has already begun. The year 2024 was the hottest on record, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Before that, 2023 had already been ranked as the hottest year in history. Millions of people are living in extreme temperatures, facing a growing threat of flooding or wildfires. In 2021, the BBC collected testimonies from five people in different parts of the world who explained how extreme temperatures changed their lives. Read next: See the videos that are trending on g1 ‘We spent many sleepless nights’ Shakeela Bano usually lays out her family’s bedding on the roof of her one-story house in India. It’s just that some nights are too hot to sleep indoors. But the surface may be too hot to walk on. “It’s very difficult,” she says. “We spent many sleepless nights.” Shakeela lives with her husband, daughter and three grandchildren in a windowless room in Ahmedabad. They only have a single ceiling fan to keep them cool. With climate change, many cities in India are now reaching 50°C. Densely populated and built-up areas are particularly affected by something known as the urban heat island effect. Materials like concrete trap and radiate heat, raising temperatures. And there’s no respite at night, when it can actually get hotter. In homes like Shakeela’s, temperatures now reach 46°C. She gets dizzy from the heat. Her grandchildren suffer from rashes, heat exhaustion and diarrhea. Traditional methods for staying cool, like drinking lemon water, no longer work. Instead, they borrowed money to paint the roof of their house white. White surfaces reflect more sunlight, and a coat of white roof paint can reduce indoor temperatures by 3 to 4 degrees. For Shakeela, the difference is huge; the room is cooler and the children sleep better. “He didn’t sleep during the afternoon,” she says, pointing to her sleeping grandson. “Now he can fall asleep in peace.” ‘Hot like fire’ “I come from a hot place,” says Sidi Fadoua. But the heat in northern Mauritania in West Africa is now too hot for many people to live and work. The heat here is not normal, he says. “It’s like fire.” Sidi, 44, lives in a small village near the edge of the Sahara. He works as a salt miner in nearby locations. The work is hard and gets harder as the region heats up due to climate change. “We cannot withstand such temperatures,” he says. “We are not machines.” To avoid temperatures above 45°C in summer, Sidi started working at night. Job prospects are scarce. Those who once made a living raising livestock can no longer do so—there are no plants for the sheep and goats to graze on. Like a growing number of its neighbors, Sidi has plans to migrate to the coastal city of Nouadhibou, where sea breezes keep the city cooler. Locals can catch a ride there on one of the world’s longest trains, carrying iron ore to the coast. “People are moving away from here,” explains Sidi. “They can’t take the heat anymore.” The 20 hour route is dangerous. Locals often sit on top of the carriages, where they are exposed to heat and sunlight during the day, before temperatures drop too low at night. In Nouadhibou, he hopes to find work in the fishing industry. The breeze can bring relief, but with more and more people escaping the desert heat, job opportunities are harder to find. Sidi remains hopeful. ‘How do you end hell?’ Patrick Michell, chief of the Kanaka Bar First Nation, began noticing worrying changes in the forest near his reserve in British Columbia, Canada, more than three decades ago. There was less water in the rivers and the mushrooms stopped growing. In the summer of 2021, her fears came true. A heat wave was sweeping across North America. On June 29, his hometown of Lytton broke records, reaching 49.6ºC. The next day, his wife sent him a photo of a thermometer that read 53ºC. An hour later, his city was in flames. Her daughter, Serena, eight months pregnant, rushed to get her children and pets into the car: “We got out with the clothes on our backs. The flames were three stories high and right next to us.” Patrick ran back to see if he could save the house. He grew up dealing with wildfires. But just like the climate, fires have also changed. “It’s not forest fires anymore, it’s hell,” he says. “How do you end an inferno?” Despite the family circumstances, Patrick sees what has happened as an opportunity: “We can rebuild Lytton for the environment that lies ahead in the next 100 years. It’s scary, but in my heart there is this optimism.” Thermometer on a street in Rio de Janeiro shows 39°C Fernando Frazão/Agencia Brasil via BBC ‘When I was a child, it wasn’t like that’ “When I was a child, the climate wasn’t like that,” says Joy, who lives in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. The region is one of the most polluted on Earth, and the hottest days and nights are increasing. Joy supports her family by using heat from gas flames to dry tapioca and sell the produce at a local market. “I have short hair,” explains Joy, “because if I let my hair grow out, it could burn my head if the flame changed direction or exploded.” But the flames are part of the problem. Oil companies use them to burn the gas that is released from the ground when they prospect for oil. The flames, which reach 6 meters high, are a significant source of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which contribute to climate change. Climate change has had a devastating impact here, turning fertile farmland into deserts in the north, while flash floods have hit the south. People don’t remember such extreme weather growing up. “Most people here are not well-informed enough to explain why the climate is changing rapidly,” says Joy. “But we suspect continued flames.” She wants the government to ban gas burning, even though she depends on it to support her family. Almost no oil wealth has been reinvested in Nigeria, where 98 million people live in poverty. This includes Joy and her family. For five days of work, they earn the equivalent of R$30 in profit. She is not optimistic about the future. “I think life [na Terra] it’s coming to an end.” ‘This heat is not normal’ Years ago, Om Naief began planting trees in a patch of desert near a highway. A retired Kuwaiti civil servant, she was worried about increasingly severe summer temperatures and worsening dust storms. “I spoke to some officials. Everyone said it was impossible to plant anything in the sand,” she says. “They said the soil was sandy and the temperature was too high. I wanted to do something that would surprise everyone.” Om lives in the Middle East, which is warming faster than much of the world. Kuwait is headed for unbearable temperatures — it’s often hotter than 50°C. Some forecasts suggest the average temperature will rise 4°C by 2050. However, Kuwait’s economy is dominated by fossil fuel exports. The two flower beds Om planted are modest, but they have a purpose. “Trees provide protection from the weather. dust, eliminate pollution, clean the air and reduce temperatures,” she says. Hedgehogs and spiny-tailed lizards now visit the site. “There’s fresh water and shade. It’s a beautiful thing.” Some Kuwaitis are now calling for a large-scale green belt to be planted by the government. The shared hope is that Kuwait is ready to take a stand against the climate crisis. Om says they must protect the land and not let it dry out. “This heat is not normal,” concludes Om. “This is the land of our fathers. We must give back, because she gave us so much.” This report was originally published in October 2021 and updated in December 2025.

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