The mercury hit 27.5 deg C just past noon in Tokyo on Tuesday, creeping past the 27.3 deg C mark set in November 1923. - AFP
TOKYO: Travelling to Tokyo soon? You might want to hold back from packing down jackets and fleece after the temperature in the Japanese capital on Tuesday (Nov 7) beat a century-old record, according to figures from the country’s Meteorological Agency.
In what has been an unusually warm autumn, the mercury hit 27.5 deg C just past noon in Tokyo on Tuesday, creeping past the 27.3 deg C mark set in November 1923.
This follows an especially hot summer that has affected the whole nation, reported The Japan Times.
On Monday, another record had been set when the temperature in Tokyo reached 25.1 deg C to mark the 142nd day in 2023 that the mercury hit 25 deg C.
The southern city of Kumamoto, located on Kyushu Island, meanwhile, experienced its 177th day of summer-like weather as the temperature reached 25.8 deg C on Tuesday.
JT reported that, according to the Meteorological Agency, 90 locations across Japan set new all-time high-temperature records for November on Monday, with 31.3 deg C recorded on Miyagijima island in Okinawa Prefecture and 29.4 deg C hit in Kamiichi, located in Toyama Prefecture.
The warm weather has been attributed to the weak influence of cold air, said the weather agency which added that many regions including the country’s east and west could continue experiencing warmer temperatures in November and December.
Areas in Japan’s north, such as Hokkaido, could also experience below-average snowfall, the agency added.
Hokkaido experienced an October average temperature that was 1.2 deg C higher than usual, and the highest since records there began in 1946.
The heat also caused an out-of-season peak bloom of sunflowers in Chiba Prefecture over the weekend, according to Tokyo Shimbun.
Visitors to Tokyo’s Showa Memorial Park and the Meiji Jingu Gaien park district might leave disappointed as ginkgo trees, known for their golden fall foliage, have not had their leaves turn yellow. - The Straits Times/ANN
