Eastern Japan Has Hottest Summer: Met Agency

September 4, 2018

Tokyo- The summer this year in eastern Japan proved to be the hottest on record since 1946, the Meteorological Agency said Monday.

The average temperature in the region in June-August exceeded the normal level by 1.7 degrees Celsius, the agency said.

The average temperature was 1.1 degrees higher than normal in western Japan, reaching the second-highest level after summer 2013, it also said.

Elsewhere in the country, the mercury hit 41.1 degrees in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, on July 23, a record high for the country.

The Hokuriku region, central Japan, including Niigata Prefecture, saw its temperatures go over the 40-degree mark for the first time ever when the Niigata city of Tainai logged 40.8 degrees on Aug. 23.

Meanwhile, the average rainfall in the Amami-Okinawa region comprising southern island chains, which experienced several typhoons, surged 177 pct from the average-year level to hit a record high there.

Sea of Japan coastal areas in the northeastern and northern regions of Tohoku and Hokkaido, respectively, saw their precipitation shoot up 165 pct and western regions facing the Pacific 133 pct.

Many parts of the country were hit by torrential rain between the end of June and early July, including one in western areas in July that caused the worst rain disaster in the current Heisei era, which started in 1989.

The number of typhoons born in June-August tied with the record high marked in 1994 at 18.

Typhoon Jongdari, the 12th this year, unprecedentedly took a westbound route after making landfall in the central region at the end of July.

The agency also revised the start of this year's rainy season at Amami from the preliminary date of May 7 to May 27 after detailed examination, becoming the slowest beginning of the season on record since 1951.

Meanwhile, it confirmed that the rainy season ended around June 29 in the Kanto region, including Tokyo, the earliest finish since that year. Jiji Press