Japan, South Korea face hot summers

Japan and South Korea sweltered this year through the hottest summers since records began, their weather agencies said yesterday.

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Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as climate change creates ever more erratic weather patterns.

Japan’s average temperature between June and August “was 2.36 [degrees Celsius] above the standard value, which marked the hottest summer since records began in 1898”, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. “It was the third consecutive summer of record-level high temperatures,’ the JMA added.

During that same period in South Korea, the average temperature was 25.7C, “the highest since data collection began in 1973’, the Korea Meteorological Administration said in a press release.

The previous record over the same period was 25.6C, set just last year.