Sapporo city posts earliest 25˚C day since records began

Temperatures in Japan’s northern city of Sapporo — famous for skiing — yesterday passed 25°C at the earliest point of any year on record, a weather agency official said.

Sapporo, the main city on the island oAf Hokkaido, hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics and each February holds a snow festival where massive ice sculptures draw tens of thousands of visitors.

“The temperature in Sapporo hit 26 degrees ... and is still rising,” Shuichi Yoshida, an official at the regional headquarters of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), said in the early afternoon.

It is the earliest that temperatures in the city have passed 25°C, which the JMA classifies as a “summer’s day,” since records began there in 1877.

Over 30°C is classed as “midsummer,” while over 35°C is “extremely hot,” according to the JMA’s system.

“We can’t rule out the possibility that climate change has played a role in the high temperature,” Yoshida said.

Other factors such as highpressure systems may have also contributed, he added.

On average between 1991 and 2020, the highest temperature in Sapporo on April 15 was 11.5°C, the JMA said.

Before yesterday, the earliest 25°C day in the city was on April 20, 1998, when the mercury reached 25.2°C.

Globally, this year has already been marked by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions, spurring fresh calls for more rapid action to limit global warming.

Every month since June last year has beaten its own “hottest-ever” tag — and last month was no exception, according to Europe’s climate monitor.

Climate change is making Japan’s famous cherry blossoms appear earlier on average, the JMA said.

Last year’s cherry blossoms began to flower in Tokyo on March 14, tied for the earliest ever alongside 2020 and 2021, the agency said.

“Since 1953, the average start date for cherry blossoms to bloom in Japan has been becoming earlier at the rate of approximately 1.2 days per 10 years,” it said.

This year, however, the delicate pink-and-white blossoms arrived later than usual because of cold weather.