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The Guardian reports:
An "unprecedented" heatwave in Japan has killed at least 65 people in one week, government officials have said, with the weather agency classifying the record-breaking weather as a natural disaster.
The deaths in the week to Sunday were due to heatstroke, while another 22,647 people were admitted to hospital, the Japanese fire and disaster management agency said.
[...] The agency said on Tuesday that 80 people had died from the heat since the beginning of the month, and more than 35,000 had been admitted to hospital.
[...] The city of Kumagaya set a national heat record on Monday, with temperatures hitting 41.1C (106F).
[...] The high temperatures follow record rainfall that caused floods and landslides in western and central Japan, killing more than 220 people.
[...] The extreme weather has revived concerns about the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, which will be held in July and August.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday July 26 2018, @06:07PM (5 children)
106 doesn't seem like all that much, unless the average temp is 70. Hell, we hit 102 here yesterday and I don't think anyone died. Then again, give it another day or two for the smell to peak, then we might find a few bodies.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by GDX on Thursday July 26 2018, @06:35PM
The problem is not the high temp per se but its combination with the high humidity that it also happen at the same time, 40ºC with high humidity is far worse than 45ºC with low humidity.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 26 2018, @06:51PM (2 children)
There's a few factors at play. The main factor is that Japan in general has very humid summers - on Monday, it looks like it was around 50% at that place that hit 106 F. That would put the heat index [weather.gov] around 135 F. The other factor is that AC isn't nearly as common as it is in western nations, so you don't just duck into a building and hunker down.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 27 2018, @01:13AM (1 child)
They should do what Al Bundy and his family did and go hang out on beach chairs in the supermarket. [dmcdn.net]
I believe in that same episode they bought an air-conditioner the size of a grid-level power transformer that had "Property of Erwin Rommel" stenciled on it, and later in that episode Peg asked Al something like, "What are we gonna do now, mister Desert Fox?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @02:26AM
Of all the anecdotes.............
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday July 29 2018, @04:43AM
Well, since Japan uses Celsius, that puts it at 6 degrees over the boiling point, surprised the death rate is so low.
But seriously, if the temperature went up to the low 40's here, people would be dying. Hardly anyone has air conditioning (though that's changing) and it's humid. Another big consideration is the daily lows. If you live in the desert, you get relieve at night, if you live somewhere where it doesn't cool down at night and air conditioning is rare, the cumulative effects add up. Shit, the temps have been in the low 30's here and it's brutal, though not deadly except for the unfortunate animals (and occasional kid) locked in vehicles.