Despite it still officially being the rainy season, Japan continued to see temperatures above 37 degrees Celsius in numerous places Monday, raising the prospect that the government could issue a newly created top-level special heatstroke alert any day.
On Monday at 2 p.m., an observation point in the city of Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, logged 39.6 C, the highest-ever temperature recorded in the city, while a spot in Fuchu, western Tokyo, saw the mercury rise to 39.2 C, also an all-time record high. Several other places, from Mie to Chiba to Ibaraki to Saitama, recorded temperatures topping 37.5 C.
The Meteorological Agency classifies days topping 35 C as “extremely hot days.”
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