Is it getting hotter here or what?

Over the last few weeks I have been astonished here in Tokyo at how mild it has seemed. We keep hearing news of these astonishing cold spells in the U.S and unseasonably early snow in the U.K. Here in Japan it seems like it’s late October with beautiful blue skies every day and the temperature barely dropping to glove weather let alone being wintery cold.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency has released data that showed in  December 2008, Japan again saw above average temperatures all over and except for the anomoly of 2005, the last few years here have all been the same. Global warming it might not seem to be in other parts of the world but climate change is definitely here, whether unseasonably warm or breathtakingly cold.

And the news doesn’t really get any better over the next few months. The Bureau has forecast a 40% probability all across Japan of above average temperatures. Combined with climate scientists around the world suggesting there is a strong chance of 2009 being a record year in the same league as the record breaking year of 1998 everything seems to be pointing towards a warmer time ahead.

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