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Japan is heading for a warmer-than-average summer, according to weather forecasts, in a development that could mean periods of extreme heat at the Tokyo Olympics.
Forecasts from the Japan Meteorological Agency and Weathernews, the private weather company, suggest the North Pacific high-pressure zone will extend into Tokyo in July.
If the initial predictions are correct, heat and humidity will be an additional concern for athletes, especially if Covid-19 means they do not last long. acclimatization period in the country before the Games.
High temperatures can also make it difficult to implement Covid-19 countermeasures, such as wearing masks.
The Olympic Games will take place between July 23 and August 8, at the peak of Japan’s remarkably hot and humid summer. The Paralympic Games are scheduled from August 24 to September 5. Both events were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A hot summer would be especially unfortunate because last July, when the Games were to be held, was unusually cool in Japan.
Weathernews said it expected temperatures to be above average in the Tokyo area and closer to normal in the northern and western parts of Japan. He predicted temperature peaks in late July and late August.
“The key to the heat is the high-pressure areas in Tibet and the North Pacific,” Weathernews forecast Tatsuya Sasaki said. “If the highs of the North Pacific and Tibet overlap, we can expect a heat wave.”
Average maximum daily temperatures about 30 degrees in the summer of Tokyo and relative humidity averages about 80 percent. But if there is a “double maximum” of atmospheric pressure, Japan could experience consecutive days with maximum temperatures above 35 ° C, Sasaki said.
“We expect above-average temperatures between June and August,” Motoaki Takekawa told the JMA. He said the forecast was still very uncertain and that the weather would probably be closer to average during the second half of the summer.
Concerns about Tokyo’s summer heat for a long time caused the Olympic marathon to move to the northern city of Sapporo. When Tokyo hosted the 1964 Olympic Games, they were held in October.
The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee discussed the forecast at an executive board meeting last week, warning that measures needed to be harmonized to deal with Covid-19 and extreme heat.
It raises how to keep social distancing under the shade tents, how to avoid sunstroke for people wearing masks, and how to choose the flow of sunburn victims.
On his original offer document for the Games, Tokyo said of its summer: “With many days of mild, sunny weather, this period provides an ideal climate for athletes to perform to the fullest.”
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