Heat wave grips Asia
TOKYO — Japan recorded its highest temperature ever Monday as a deadly heat wave continued to grip a wide swath of the country and nearby South and North Korea.
The mercury hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit in Kumagaya, a city in Saitama prefecture about 40 miles northwest of Tokyo, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. That broke the previous record of 105.8 in Ekawasaki on the island of Shikoku on Aug. 12, 2013.
Two lingering high pressure systems have trapped warm and humid air above the region, bringing record-high temperatures for nearly two weeks.
“It is so hot these days that I cannot figure out whether I am in [South Korea] or in Southeast Asia,” said Kim Sung-hee, a student in downtown Seoul, where the temperature rose to 96 F.
More than 40 people have died in Japan and about 10 in South Korea of heat-related causes this summer. Seven of the South Korea heat-related deaths happened last week, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. About 1,040 people have fallen ill because of hot weather from May 20 to July 21, an increase of 61 percent over the same period last year, it said.
South Korea’s highest-ever morning low was recorded in the city of Gangneung, where the temperature was 88 degrees at 6:45 a.m. The morning low in Seoul was 84.6 F, a record for the country’s capital, according to South Korea’s weather agency.
The mercury hit 103.8 F in the southeastern town of Hayang, the highest temperature in the country so far this year.
In North Korea, residents fanned themselves on crowded trolleys or protected themselves from the sun with brightly colored parasols as temperatures in Pyongyang, the capital, reached 93.2 F. Weather reports said higher temperatures were recorded on the country’s eastern coast.
Thousands of people in Japan have been rushed to hospitals with heat stroke symptoms during the heat wave. Kyodo News agency has tallied more than 40 deaths. Many of the victims have been elderly people who were not using air conditioning.
On Monday, nine people died from heat-related causes across Japan, Kyodo said. NHK national television tallied seven deaths.
The temperature reached 102 F on Monday in central Tokyo, the highest temperature this year.
Tourists in Tokyo’s historic Asakusa district struggled with the heat. Cosett Romero from Mexico said she and her family were getting headaches.
“It’s difficult to us because we don’t have this heat in Mexico,” she said. Many parts of Mexico are more than a mile above sea level, and July temperatures in central Mexico average in the mid-70s.
Authorities in Japan warned people to stay inside and use air conditioning.
“The weather recently in Tokyo and across Japan is like being in a sauna,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said at a news conference.
Tokyo’s postwar high temperature in August averages 88.7 F.