Japan's Rainy Season Intensifying - Tokyo Awash After Solid Week Of Rain

[hatrack]

This year’s rainy season included a week of almost nonstop rain from July 15 to 24, and the maximum daily precipitation was recorded at 11 locations nationwide. The damage was greatest especially in western Japan and in Nagano with more than 9,000 houses flooded, leaving 28 persons missing or dead.

Though the rainy season is now over, many analysts say it isn’t safe just yet. “The seawater temperature is rising due to global warming, and hence the typhoons are getting greater in size every year,” said Takehiko Mikami, professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. “With the ongoing atmospheric change, it is speculated that more typhoons will hit Japan. It is very possible for Tokyo to face a typhoon as big as hurricane Katrina.”

“This year’s long rainy season and concentrated downpours are thought to have been caused by the phenomenon known as the Siberia Express,” said Miki Arai, researcher at Tokyo University. “In such cases, high, low and high pressures cover Europe, Siberia and the Sea of Okhotsk, respectively. If this happens again in August, Japan may face another deluge.”

Weather forecaster Masamitsu Morita suggests that the heavy torrential rain is due to the fact that Tokyo is becoming subtropical. “More than 1,000 mm of rain was recorded during the rainy season's downpours. Such heavy rain is only said to happen every 10 years, but it has constantly happened for the last several years. I think we can make an educated guess that Japan’s climate is becoming subtropical and that heavier rains will come.” The amount of water at dams throughout Japan has substantially increased. Some dams in the Kyushu and Chugoku areas have reached capacity and some have exceeded their capacity in the Kanto area. Mountain forests are also approaching their limit in terms of water retaining function. One can only wonder what will happen if a typhoon or another concentrated downpour hits Tokyo now?

EDIT

http://www.crisscross.com/jp/shukan/354