Japan faces life-threatening heatwave amid record highs

Japan experienced its hottest July on record, with average temperatures 2.89°C above normal, the highest since 1898. Authorities issued widespread heatstroke alerts as extreme heat and low rainfall affected several regions, including Tamba, Hokkaido, and Hokuriku

Tokyo: Japan experienced its hottest July for the third year in a row, with a record 2.89 degrees Celsius higher than usual, according to the country’s weather agency.

The nationwide average temperature was the highest for July since comparable records began in 1898, toppling the previous record set in 2024 by 2.16 degrees Celsius, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said on Friday.

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Weather officials said this year’s deviation from normal is much larger than past figures, adding that the country faced “abnormally high” temperatures. On July 30, a temperature of 41.2 degrees was recorded in Tamba City in the western prefecture of Hyogo, the highest ever observed in the country. On July 24, the mercury rose to nearly 40 degrees Celsius in some parts of the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, rainfall in July on the Sea of Japan side of the northeastern Tohoku region and in the central Hokuriku region was the lowest since those statistics started being recorded in 1946, the JMA said.

Earlier on July 25, the JMA had said that sweltering temperatures were expected to continue across Japan, with heatstroke alerts issued for much of the country. The current high temperatures were life-threatening, the JMA said, adding that the heatwave is being caused by a high-pressure system covering Japan.

Heatstroke alerts had been issued across the country, including parts of Hokkaido, which experienced record high temperatures, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as Tokyo.

Daytime highs were expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius in Toyooka City, Hyogo prefecture, and 38 degrees in Ichinoseki City, Iwate prefecture, and the cities of Fukushima, Maebashi, Kumagaya, Kyoto and Maizuru, according to the weather agency. Weather officials had also urged people to take sufficient measures to avoid heatstroke.