Hottest Summer Ever

As most Japanese acknowledged extremely uneasy climate, Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) declared that it was the hottest summer this year. Average temperature of some cities in Japan between June and August was higher than ever by 2.36 degree Celsius. Caused by extraordinary hot and humid air, a lot of people have been sent to the hospital on ambulance. People in Japan is forced to adapt to tropical climate. 

JMA recorded average temperature of fifteen cities, which are supposed not to be affected by urbanization. They included cities of Yamagata in Yamagata, Choshi in Chiba, Hikone in Shiga and Miyazaki in Miyazaki. The agency compared average temperature of those cities to their average between 1991 and 2020. The average of temperature in this summer was higher than that of 2023 and 2024, each of them had marked highest record.

 

According to JMA, high atmospheric pressure in Tibet expanded from the Eurasia continent to Japan, affected by high temperature of sea water in Southeast Asia. Another high pressure above the Pacific Ocean stayed in southeast of Japan. Japan archipelago has been covered by those two high pressures. Westerlies that would bring cool wind escaped to the north, making Japan further warm.

 

The highest record of temperature in Japan had been 41.1 degree Celsius at Kumagaya city, Saitama, in 2018 and at Hamamatsu city in Shizuoka in 2020. The record was overtaken by five cities this summer. New record is 41.8 degree Celsius in Isezaki city, Gunma, on August 5th, followed by Shizuoka city, Shizuoka, and Hatoyama city, Saitama, with 41.4 degree Celsius, and Kiryu city, Gunma, and Kaibara city, Hyogo, with 41.2 degree Celsius.

 

Regions with higher latitude marked grater margin from usual temperature. Average temperature was 3.4 degrees Celsius higher than normal year in northern Japan, 2.3 degrees in eastern Japan and 1.7 degrees in western Japan. Each of them is the highest record, anyway. Among 914 places for meteorological observation in Japan, highest temperature was observed in 207 places.

 

No air conditioner was installed in subway trains in Tokyo before 1980s. The passengers received relatively cool air through open windows even in the time of High Economic Growth Period in Japan. Now, there is no subway line without artificially cool air. Hot air emitted from trains, automobiles, office buildings and houses heat up urban atmosphere. Escaping from hot outdoor environment, people spend most of their time with cool air. That cool air was produced with emission of warm air. This vicious cycle keeps on exacerbating urban life of the people.

 

Tokyo Fire Department released data that it marked a new record of sending people to hospitals in ambulance this summer. It transported 8,341 patients with heatstroke between June and September. It overtook the number in last year, 7,996, renewing previous record for two consecutive years. Heatstroke Warning Alert, a new system introduced in 2024, was issued about 1,500 times in Japan this year. Extremely hot weather has reached a disastrous level in Japan.

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