By Sharon Kelly 2018 is set to rank as the fourth warmest year on record—and the fourth year in a row reflecting a full degree Celsius (1.8° Fahrenheit) temperature rise from the late 1800s, climate scientists say. This was the year that introduced us to fire tornadoes, bomb cyclones and in Death Valley, a five-day […]
Each year, Japan’s iconic cherry blossoms herald the arrival of spring. But after a bout of extreme weather, blooms are being reported several months early. The Japanese weather site Weathernews said it had received more than 350 reports of blossoms throughout the country. The flowers usually appear in March or April. It’s not unusual for […]
Yahoo Japan is the single biggest online platform for elephant ivory sales in Japan, according to a new TRAFFIC investigation, which recorded a staggering 4,414 ivory items plus 35 whole tusks for sale over a four-week period in June and July 2018. The latest findings were revealed Thursday in “System Error, Reboot Required: Review of […]
Japan is proposing a slew of rule changes at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Florianópolis, Brazil this week that conservationists worry would ultimately lift a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling. Japan, which launched a “scientific whaling” program in 1987 as a loophole to the moratorium, has killed more than 15,600 whales in the […]
A powerful earthquake rocked Hokkaido, Japan in the early hours on Thursday, triggering landslides, destroying roads and buildings and left the northern island’s 5.3 million residents without power. The 6.7-magnitude quake struck at 3:09 a.m. local time at a depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), according to the Associated Press. Meteorological agency officials told the […]
A powerful typhoon made landfall in western Japan on Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and violent winds up to 135 miles per hour, reports say. Typhoon Jebi, which translates to “swallow” in Korean, is classed as a “very strong” typhoon, the weather agency’s chief forecaster Ryuta Kurora told AFP. “This is (the strongest) since 1993.” Jebi […]
An ongoing heatwave has sent a record 71,266 people to hospitals across Japan between April 30 and Aug. 5 with 138 people dying from heat-related illnesses, The Japan Times reported, citing the nation’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The busy capital of Tokyo saw the highest number of people taken to hospitals, at 5,994. Osaka […]
Hot, dry and fiery conditions are being seen by many parts of the globe right now. This includes Japan, where the nation’s meteorological agency just declared the extreme heat a “natural disaster.” An agency spokesman said that “unprecedented levels of heat” were being felt, as quoted by AFP. The city of Kumagaya, located about 40 […]
From flash floods in Vietnam to a blistering heat wave in Japan, countries across Asia are suffering from extreme weather, CNN reported Sunday. The events come nearly two months into the continent’s annual rainy season that extends from June to November, according to The Straits Times. A 2016 study showed that typhoons in Asia had […]
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