Japan's average spring temperature was the hottest on record — with comparable data going back to 1898 — the Meteorological Agency said Thursday, as climate change causes temperatures to soar.
The average temperature from March to May was 1.59 C warmer than the mean temperature for 30 years from 1991 to 2020, exceeding the previous record high logged in 1998 when the difference was 1.24 C. Temperature deviations, and not actual temperatures, are used to measure average temperatures.
Japan was largely blanketed by warm air masses this spring, as westerlies that traveled further north than usual blocked cold air from moving southward, the agency said.
"These record high temperatures tend to be seen because of the progress in global warming," it said in a press release.