Japan's summer was joint hottest on record: weather office

Tokyo: Japan suffered its joint warmest summer this year since records began, equalling the level seen in 2023, data from the weather office showed on...

Tokyo: Japan suffered its joint warmest summer this year since records began, equalling the level seen in 2023, data from the weather office showed on Monday.

Climate scientists have already predicted that 2024 will be the hottest year on record for the Earth because of a warming planet.

Japan's long-term average temperature between June and August was 1.76 degrees Celsius above the standard value, the joint highest since statistics started being kept in 1898, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

This July was already the hottest in Japan since records began, with the variation across the archipelago 2.16C higher than average.

In central Tokyo alone, 123 people died of heatstroke in July, when extreme heatwaves saw a record number of ambulances mobilised in the capital, according to local authorities.