Extremely heavy rainfall battering parts of northern Japan

jma himawari-8 0240z august 10 2022 f

A new round of extremely heavy rain is battering parts of northern Japan on August 10, 2022. The event comes just 6 days after more than 540 000 people were ordered to evacuate from the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions.

  • Weather authorities warn of mudslides, flooding in low-lying regions, and overflowing rivers.

A stalled front over Aomori and Akita prefectures has already poured record quantities of rain in the region, surpassing the normal for the entire month of August, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).1

In Aomori Prefecture, rainfall totaled 325 mm (12.79 inches) in Fukaura Town, 202.5 mm (7.97 inches) in Ajigasawa Town, and 202 mm (7.95 inches) in Akita’s Happo Town up to 11:00 LT. All are record highs.

Over the next 24 hours, northern Tohoku could receive another 120 mm (4.72 inches), Hokkaido 100 mm (3.93 inches), southern Tohoku 80 mm (3.14 inches), and Niigata Prefecture 50 mm (1.96 inches).

jma himawari-8 0240z august 10 2022 bg
Image credit: JMA/Himawari-8, Zoom Earth, The Watchers. Acquired at 02:40 UTC on August 10, 2022

Over 540 000 people living in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions of Japan were told to evacuate on Thursday morning (LT), August 4, as torrential rains continued to pour over the Sea of Japan coastline, causing flooding and landslides.2

In various locations of Yamagata, the JMA reported hourly precipitation of 100 to 120 millimeters (3.93 to 4.72 inches).

In 24 hours to Wednesday night, August 3, Oguni recorded 277 mm (10.90 inches), while Iide recorded 273 mm (10.74 inches).

In Sekikawa, Niigata, 149 millimeters (5.86 inches) of precipitation fell in only one hour on Thursday morning.

The city received 414.5 mm (16.31 inches) of precipitation in the 24 hours leading up to August 4, surpassing the previous daily record of 212 mm (8.34 inches) set in July 2014.

On August 3, Murakami, Niigata set a new daily record with 395.5 mm of rainfall (15.57 inches). The previous daily rainfall record was 290 mm (11.41 inches) set in 2005.

References:

1 Japan hit by record rainfall, heatwave – NHK – August 10, 2022

2 More than 540 000 people ordered to evacuate as heavy rainfall hits Japan – The Watchers – August 4, 2022

Featured image credit: JMA/Himawari-8, Zoom Earth, The Watchers. Acquired at 02:40 UTC on August 10, 2022

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