Western Japan sees earliest end to rainy season on record

Tokyo: Japan s rainy season ended at the earliest date on record in the country s western regions, meteorologists said Friday, as climate change makes...

Tokyo: Japan's rainy season ended at the earliest date on record in the country's western regions, meteorologists said Friday, as climate change makes global weather patterns less predictable.

The rainy season usually lasts from June to July, but for a large swath of the country -- from Kyoto to the southern island of Kyushu -- it ended roughly three weeks earlier than usual, the national weather agency said.

Previous records for the earliest ending to the rainy season in those areas were in early July, logged in the 1960s through the 1990s, added the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

Japan endured its hottest summer on record last year as climate change pushes up temperatures worldwide.

Increasingly dry winters have also raised the risk of wildfires. A blaze that broke out in the city of Ofunato in early March was Japan's worst in over half a century.