Scorching Summer! Japan records highest average temperature in 125 years

Japan this year recorded the country's highest-ever average temperature since the inception of records in 1898, the weather agency on Friday (September 1) said.

"Average temperatures in Japan are the highest for summer since 1898," the agency said.

From the month of June to August, the agency recorded "considerably higher" average summer temperatures in "northern, eastern, and western Japan".

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"The average temperature anomaly in Japan, based on observations at 15 locations, was +1.76 degrees C, far exceeding that of 2010 (+1.08 degrees C), which was the highest since statistics began in 1898 and the highest for summer," it said in a statement.

"Warm air tended to cover northern Japan and warm air flowed in from the south, resulting in considerably higher average summer temperatures in northern, eastern, and western Japan," it added.

The agency further added that in many locations, such as Itoigawa City "not only maximum temperatures but also minimum temperatures reached record highs".

On August 10, the city in Japan's Niigata region recorded a low of 31.4 degrees Celsius (88.5 Fahrenheit), which was the highest daily minimum temperature in all of Japan.

The agency said that as compared to years with particularly high average summer temperatures (2010, 2013, 2018, and 2022), the number of days with soaring temperatures significantly increased from late July onward, taking the total to the highest number since 2010.

Heat-related deaths in Japan

July this year was officially declared as the country's warmest month in a century with at least 53 people succumbing to heatstrokes and nearly 50,000 needing emergency medical attention.

The Japan Times last month published a detailed report on heat-related deaths. Citing official statistics, it said that the number of heatstroke-related deaths increased from an average of 201 people a year between 1995 and 1999, to an average of 1295 from 2018 to 2022.

According to the report, the health ministry data showed that the elderly were the ones who were most impacted.

Other parts of the world also witnessed record temperatures this summer. As per EU's climate observatory Copernicus, July 2023, which saw heatwaves and fires around the world, was the hottest month ever registered on Earth.

In France this month late-summer records toppled as a "heat dome" bore down on much of the country, hitting the southern half and Mediterranean coast especially hard.

(With inputs from the agencies)

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