Tag - heat

 
 

HEAT

A student leaves the secondary school building built by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kere, in Kere's home village of Gando, Burkina Faso, on June 3, 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 17, 2025
How schools are being built for extreme heat — without air conditioning
With techniques such as cross-ventilation and materials such as clay, architects around the world are adapting schools to climate change without the use of air conditioning.
Firefighters work to tackle a wildfire spread at Les Pennes-Mirabeau, near Marseille, southern France, on July 8
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change / EXPLAINER
Jul 15, 2025
How climate change is fueling wildfires in Europe
Wildfires have burnt 227,000 hectares of land since the beginning of the year — more than double the average for this time of year over the past two decades.
Shahbaz Ali, a ride-hailing motorcycle driver who earns $8 on a good day, transports a passenger through the busy streets of Karachi, Pakistan, on June 26.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 15, 2025
When it’s this hot, ‘We are enduring, not living’
In Karachi, 17 million residents endure overlapping crises of toxic air, flooding, poor waste disposal and climate change.
A public school teacher leads the class during the first day of in-person classes, at a school flooded due to high tide, in Macabebe, Pampanga province, Philippines, in August 2022.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Jul 10, 2025
Philippines struggling to ready underfunded schools for climate hazards
Teachers want the government to do more than tweak the school calendar, and also invest in infrastructure that will make schools resilient to heat and storms.
Pedestrians at the Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo on Tuesday. The weekly number of people taken to hospital with heatstroke has exceeded 10,000 for the first time this year as summer temperatures soar.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 9, 2025
Over 10,000 people sent to hospital last week due to heatstroke
Last week's number is more than double of that a week earlier.
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
JAPAN
Jul 6, 2025
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Included among the alerts were the first of the year for central Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture.
People carry a portable shrine at Sensoji temple during the Sanja Festival in May. The festival is one of the three largest in Tokyo.
LIFE / Language
Jul 5, 2025
What’s the first thing you think of when you think of a Japanese summer?
Fireworks and festivals are part of the traditional Japanese summer, but what do people associate with the season these days?
A delivery driver takes a break in the shade during high temperatures in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 2024.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 2, 2025
How much does a heat wave cost? Insurers and CEOs want to know.
Some believe a new market for heat insurance — driven in part by artificial intelligence and the need to cool data centers — is around the corner.
A tourist holding an umbrella to protect himself from the sun walks at Trocadero square next to the Eiffel Tower as an early summer heat wave hits Paris on Tuesday.
WORLD
Jul 1, 2025
France shuts schools as heat wave grips Europe
The Mediterranean Sea was up to 6 degrees Celsius warmer than usual for the time of year.
The Meteorological Agency said on Tuesday Japan experienced its hottest June on record.
JAPAN
Jul 1, 2025
Japan had hottest June on record, says weather agency
With strong high-pressure systems in June staying in the region, the average monthly temperature was 2.34 degrees Celsius higher than the standard value.
A woman wearing sun-protective clothing in Beijing on June 23
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 30, 2025
China’s scorching heat poses summer test for electricity grid
Eastern China may face a "long-lasting high temperature war,” the state weather bureau said last week.
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jun 29, 2025
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
With hot weather and a growing population, the region is becoming a key growth market for Daikin and other players. But experts warn of a vicious cycle leading to more emissions.
People buy ice cream in Rome, near the Vatican, on Saturday.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 29, 2025
Europe bakes in summer's first heatwave as continent warms
According to Copernicus and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Europe has been warming at roughly twice the global average since the 1980s.
Al Hilal's Salem Al-Dawsari pours water on his face during a break in play at the Club World Cup in Miami Gardens, Florida, on June 18.
SOCCER
Jun 27, 2025
Soaring temperatures during Club World Cup raise concerns for 2026 World Cup
Match times for the 2026 World Cup, cohosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, have yet to be announced, but organizers may face challenges if sweltering conditions return.
People cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jun 26, 2025
Last week’s heat wave in Japan not possible without climate change, analysis shows
The heat wave, which came shortly after the rainy season was declared, caused a surge in ambulance calls for heat-related illnesses.
A worker checks sunscreen products during the final manufacturing process at a factory for the Japanese chemical and cosmetics company Kao in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 23, 2025
Why Japanese sunscreen is going viral — and selling out
Japanese skincare is getting its moment in the sun thanks to the help of beauty influencers on YouTube and other social media platforms.
In Tokyo, at least 562 people have been taken to the hospital for suspected heatstroke so far this month.
ENVIRONMENT
Jun 20, 2025
What happened to the rainy season?
The mercury has climbed across much of Japan in recent days, but the seasonal rain front is expected to return early next week.
A dead sea star in 2015. About 5 billion sea stars died from a disease outbreak, likely including this one.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jun 18, 2025
Marine heat waves are spreading around the world
Some unusual ocean events have become so intense that scientists have coined a new term: super marine heat waves.
People walk under the scorching sun in Tokyo's Omotesando area on Tuesday as temperatures rise above 35 degrees Celsius in much of eastern Japan.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 17, 2025
Japan sweats under extreme heat despite ongoing rainy season
The weather agency warned of heat waves throughout the week as a high-pressure system stretches across eastern and northern Japan.
A staff member at the Osaka Expo wears clothing featuring a cooling fan powered by electricity generated by perovskite solar cells.
JAPAN
Jun 17, 2025
Wearable perovskite solar cells tested at Osaka Expo
The cells, jointly developed by Toyoda Gosei and a startup company, weigh just 10 grams each.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’