Climate Change Impacts

Overall, the entire Asian continent is expected to raise in temperature over the next century. There are going to be many individual years and seasons that we would consider extremely warm by today's standards. Winter and summer precipitation are expected to increase everywhere except for central Asia, as are tornado-related extreme rainfall and winds. North and East Asia are expected to see the largest and most consistent increase in annual precipitation. In Central Asia, where there is a projected decrease in mean precipitation, there is supposed to be an increase in the frequency of very dry spring, summer and autumn seasons.

Glacier melt in the Himalayas is expected to increase flooding and rock avalanches, and will affect water resources within the next two to three decades. River flows will decrease as the glaciers recede, which will affect freshwater availability in Central, South, East, and Southeast Asia. Flooding from the sea and some rivers will put coastal areas at risk. Crop yields could increase up to 20% in East and South-East Asia and decrease up to 30% in Central and South Asia by the mid-21st century. Deadly diarrhoeal disease associated with floods and droughts are expected to rise in East, South and Southeast Asia.

Climate change is likely to affect agriculture, risk of hunger and water resource scarcity. Sea-level rise and temperature increases are likely to affect marine and coastal ecosystems. Around one million people along the coasts of South and South-East Asia will likely be at risk from flooding. The stability of wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs around Asia is likely to be increasingly threatened, with between 24% and 30% of the reefs in Asia projected to be lost during the next 10-30 years. Climate change is also expected to affect forest expansion and migration. There is likely to be an increased risk of extinction for many flora and fauna species in Asia due to habitat fragmentation.

Asia's most interesting threat to me is the loss of water resources. Water is the most important resource for humans and would therefore cause the most problems if stress from water shortage starts to affect people. Tensions could mount over fresh water availability. Water contamination would cause widespread diseases and further limit drinkable water. Less water for agriculture means less food.

Projected conditions over the world. Many parts of Asia are expected to be dry. Source

Effects of drought. Source

Severe Weather in Japan

This post is about tornadoes and hurricanes in Japan and how they compare to their counterparts in the United States.

First, a bit about Japan's location. Japan is located in the Northern Hemisphere. Its minimum latitude is 24°N and its maximum latitude is 46°N. Its minimum longitude is 123°E and its maximum longitude is 146°E. The nearest ocean is the Pacific Ocean.

Tornadoes

How do tornadoes form? Due to vertical wind shear, a rotating body of air forms at the ground. The air at the bottom is slower than the air higher up. A warm updraft from the ground lifts the spinning air into a loop, and once it is vertical it is considered a mesocyclone. Funnel clouds form from the "wall cloud" in the lower part of the spinning cloud. When the funnel cloud touches ground, it is called a tornado.

In the United States, tornadoes usually travel in a northeast direction. This is due to the fact that tornadoes move in the same direction and with the same speed as the thunderstorms that produce them, and most thunderstorms move from the southwest to the northeast. On average, there are 1,274 tornadoes observed in the US per year (Source).

Tornadoes in Japan also tend to travel in a northeast direction. I can't find a concrete explanation for this, but apparently tornadoes in the northern hemisphere tend to move in that direction. Tornadoes occur far less often in Japan than the US, with an average of 15 per year (Source).

Graphs showing annual tornado counts over the last few decades indicate that tornado occurrences have increased over time. However, you should keep in mind that weather technology has advanced, in turn advancing our ability to detect storms. There aren't necessarily more tornadoes occurring—just more tornadoes being observed.

Global map of tornado occurrence. (Source)

Hurricanes

There are three main requirements for hurricane formation. The first is warm ocean temperatures (>80°F or 27°C), because you need lots of evaporation. The second is a deep warm ocean layer (200m in depth), so that there is lots of warm water even after winds churn up the water. The third is coriolis, to initiate the spinning of the hurricane.

There are different terms used for hurricanes in each of the main hurricane formation regions. Hurricane is the name in the Atlantic and East Pacific. In the Indian Ocean near Australia, they are called cyclones. Off the coast of China and Indonesia, they are called typhoons.

Formation regions of hurricanes. (Source)

In the United States, hurricanes generally travel north to northeast. If they travel over 25 or 30 degrees latitude (around the top of Florida), they lose the influence of the trade winds pushing them over the Atlantic Ocean and will usually be influenced by local winds. These tend to push them north-northeast, along the east coast or off of it. If they do not reach 25 or 30 degrees latitude, the trade winds will continue to push the storm westward into the Gulf of Mexico, and it will land in Texas or Mexico. About 1.75 hurricanes hit the US per year (Source).

In Japan, hurricanes (or typhoons) tend to travel in the same way, north to northeast. This is because they usually encounter southwesterly winds, which blow northeastward, around a low-pressure system passing over China or Siberia. About 2.7 hurricanes hit Japan per year (Source).


In conclusion...
Tornadoes clearly occur far more often in the US than in Japan, but tornadoes occur more often in the US than anywhere else in the world anyway. This is offset by the fact that Japan has a slightly higher rate of hurricane occurrence than the US. Tornadoes in the US occur throughout the year, just in different places around the country depending on the time of year. Tornadoes in Japan tend to occur more frequently in the summer and fall, and rarely in the spring. Their hurricane seasons are almost identical, however: For the US, it's between June and November, and for Japan it's between July and November. Even though the US and Japan are on different parts of the globe, their tornadoes and hurricanes still move in very similar directions, which may be at least partially explained by the fact that they are both located in the northern hemisphere.

Typical Weather and Tourism in Japan

The Winter Solstice occurs on December 22. In December, the maximum temperature is around 55.4°F. The minimum temperature is generally around 41°F. It tends to rain about 44.8 mm during the month of December. You should see snow more than any other type of precipitation during this month.

The Summer Solstice occurs on June 21. The maximum temperature in June hits 78.8°F, while the minimum temperature drops to 66.2°F. The average precipitation is 168.5mm, and rain is the most common type of precipitation. The temperatures aren't that different between winter and summer, but the amount of precipitation is where the seasons differ the most.

The Spring Equinox falls on either March 20 or 21. Due to the need for recent astronomical measurements, the exact date can't be determined until February of the previous year. In March, the average maximum temperature is 57.2°F, and the average minimum temperature is 42.8°F. Rainfall averages about 125 mm. Rain is the most likely precipitation to occur on the Spring Equinox.

The Autumnal Equinox falls on September 22 or 23. Again, the exact date cannot be determined until February of the year prior. In September, the average maximum temperature is 82.4°F, and the average minimum temperature is 69.8°F. The average rainfall is 215.1 mm and, again, rain is the most common type of precipitation.

If  you are thinking about visiting Japan, I would recommend going in the winter. There are all sorts of special winter festivities going on all across the country, and most cities have something unique. There is the Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, which has all kinds of fancy ice art on display, along with winter sport events. Kyoto has Hanatoro, which is when the streets are illuminated with thousands of lanterns and are decorated with flower and light displays. Then there is the Sendai Pageant of Starlight, where rows of zelkova trees are decorated with hundreds of thousands of lights to create luminous corridors along the main streets of Sendai.

Be warned that sometimes heavy snows can hit, but this is mostly when you go more north or into more mountainous areas. Other than that, winter is the driest season in Japan, and the weather is nice and cold without being unbearably so. (Opinions may vary...I favor cold weather.)

Here's a goofy but catchy saying I came up with to advertise winter travel to Japan:
"Sapporo, Kyoto, Tokyo, wherever you go, witness spectacles in the snow!"