Tokyo: Japan sweltered under an unseasonal heatwave that rewrote records for the month of May, as the mercury surged above 38°C in many parts of the northernmost island of Hokkaido.
The temperature hit 39.5°C in the coastal town of Saroma at 2.07pm in northeast Hokkaido, surpassing the previous national record for May – 37.2°C – set in 1993 in Chichibu city in Saitama prefecture, north-west of Tokyo.
Temperatures have never topped 38°C in Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The previous high for Hokkaido was 37.8°C, recorded in the town of Otofuke on June 3, 2014.The Hokkaido Railway Company, or JR Hokkaido, cancelled at least 40 train services in eastern Hokkaido over derailment concerns amid fears that the extreme heat may have distorted the railway tracks.
The weather agency said the current heatwave is due to a warm air mass enveloping the entire Japanese archipelago, which is not typically seen until the peak of summer. The unseasonal temperatures are expected to continue through today before subsiding.Many Japanese were surprised that Hokkaido, known for its cold winters, would be even hotter than tropical southwestern Okinawa. Some were also concerned they would be in for a hellish summer that would be even more brutal than the one last year.
A heatwave last year, which the government designated as a natural disaster, pushed the temperature to an all-time national high of 41.1°C in Kumagaya, east of Tokyo, on July 23. At least 133 people died nationwide, while more than 55,000 were treated for heat exhaustion between July and August. — The Straits Times/Asia News Network
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