A sunny weekend in Tokyo marked the end of a record-breaking 37 straight days of rain, Japan’s weather agency said Monday. The capital’s rainy season normally takes place in June, but the city has suffered regular heavy downpours throughout the summer, as well as heavy flooding across the wider Tokyo metro region. Climate change fueled by fossil fuel emissions increases moisture in the atmosphere, making heavy rain more likely.
Friday’s showers capped the city’s longest stretch of rainy days since records began in 1886. Eri Kawanami, an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), said that “the longest streak of rainy days continued from Aug. 27 to Oct. 2, making 37 consecutive days of rain.” Since the beginning of September, Tokyo had been soaked by 696.5 millimeters of rain, more than three times the normal level, according to the JMA. The weather globally is being shaped this year by the El Nino phenomenon, which shifts winds, air pressure and cloud patterns and can bring heavy rain to some areas and droughts elsewhere.
In Thailand, recent flooding has affected 1.7 million people after an intense weather system hit the region, leaving 23 people dead since mid-September.
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