Tokyo suffers longest streak of rainy days on record
Tokyo has logged 34 straight days of rain — the longest streak since records began in 1886 — with September rainfall at nearly three times the normal level, Japan's weather agency said.
Tokyo has endured 34 consecutive days of rain, the longest streak on record, Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) said on Tuesday (29 September).
The stretch is the longest since records began in 1886. The previous record of 33 rainy days was set between 27 June and 29 July 2019, JMA official Kazuhiro Hirono said.
Central Tokyo received 629 millimetres of rain in September through Monday, nearly three times the normal level, the agency said — approaching the September record of 670.9mm set in 1958.
Tokyo’s rainy season is normally confined to June, but regular heavy downpours have run through the summer, with heavy flooding across the wider region.
JMA official Masayuki Kyoda told AFP that “the distinctive weather map during this month is in part because of El Niño”, which has brought higher temperatures to the Pacific. “Autumn rain fronts are staying longer than usual,” he said, adding that a high-pressure system in the Pacific is also lingering longer than normal.
Kyoda cautioned that the streak could not be directly linked to climate change, though he noted a JMA report last year concluded that “global warming was impacting Japan’s weather long-term, including through more precipitation”.
Sources
More on this topic: all Science stories
