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News & Current Events Apr 18, 2026 at 11:31 PM

Japan weather agency adopts 'cruelly hot day' as new term for temps upwards of 40 C

Posted by ComprehensiveWin1434

Japan weather agency adopts 'cruelly hot day' as new term for temps upwards of 40 C - The Mainichi
The Mainichi
Japan weather agency adopts 'cruelly hot day' as new term for temps upwards of 40 C - The Mainichi
TOKYO -- The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) announced on April 17 that it has chosen
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ALifeWellLift Apr 18, 2026 +158
Unfortunately, I can see this getting a lot of use going forward.
158
OhDudeTotally Apr 18, 2026 +71
In Canada we now have "smoke" weather icons on the weather networks. Cause seasonal forest fires in the west blowing large amounts of smoke east are becoming all too common.
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Donnicton Apr 19, 2026 +25
"Seasonal" fires is more true than you know. If you haven't already, look up "zombie fires" in Canada, where previous years' forest fires can continue to smoulder underground over the winter in peat rich lands and reignite on the surface when the weather gets warmer again. This is the new normal.
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CipherWeaver Apr 19, 2026 +8
Fires in peat bog will just smolder forever unless they get a huge rain. 
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Nebresto Apr 19, 2026 +1
Need more beavers
1
ALifeWellLift Apr 19, 2026 +7
Thats such a shame. When I imagine the true idyllic wilderness I always picture the endless forests and lakes and mountains of Canada. If there's anywhere in the world that should be free of human influence, it's there.
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ZenoxDemin Apr 19, 2026 +8
Don't need humans to catch a forest on fire. Although humans can help a lot to start them.
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Duideka Apr 19, 2026 +3
Australia uses “Catastrophic” although the lowest point of the scale is “Moderate”
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reformedMedas Apr 19, 2026 +5
Yep, would have seen heavy use last 2 summers for sure, especially in cities.
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redmusic1 Apr 19, 2026 +82
In Australia they had to invent a new colour for the weather maps for over 50c. In western Sydney we had over 40 days over 41C this last summer. Summer in Sydney now lasts an extra 50 days a year, and the modelling shows that by 2045 it will last 6 months a year.
82
Meta2048 Apr 19, 2026 +18
I think it was last year or the year before, Phoenix, Arizona had like 3+ months straight of over 100f+ weather.  That's 38c.  I think most days were actually above 105f, or 40c.
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SpicyRice99 Apr 19, 2026 +1
Having just read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, this is disquieting...
1
gearstars Apr 19, 2026 +10
Better get your V8 Interceptor soon, supplies might become limited
10
Mundane_Existence0 Apr 19, 2026 +2
Since that was [13yrs ago](https://xcancel.com/Aus_ScienceWeek/status/288452720019517441) I'm sure they'll have to add at least one new color before 2030.
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GeorgeWardlawsmum Apr 19, 2026 +2
Send some heat to Melbourne please.
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SanDiedo Apr 19, 2026 +2
They should use standart Kelvin scheme, to show which zones are "Sirius blue" hot.
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redmusic1 Apr 19, 2026 -5
Sorry dude, at this point in time Americans are not allowed to suggest the rest of the world do anything. We like our violent purple weather charts, and we will stick to them.
-5
Logitech4873 Apr 19, 2026 +5
Kelvin is British though?
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redmusic1 Apr 19, 2026 -1
Never met a Kelvin I liked, though I have only met one. If I was a fridge, I would be a Kelvinhater.
-1
Logitech4873 Apr 19, 2026 +4
So why are you assuming that people are American for no reason? The Kelvin scale is famously part of the SI metric units. Edit.  Yeah immediately block me after I point out your weird usdefaultism.
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redmusic1 Apr 19, 2026 -3
You don't understand sarcasm ( but u/n SanDiedo is a good clue ) Goodbye.
-3
kalvin689 Apr 19, 2026 -2
They didnt say kelvin is american, they just said that americans shouldnt suggest anything.
-2
Logitech4873 Apr 19, 2026 +4
That user isn't American.
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Waste_Jello9947 Apr 19, 2026 -1
Australia finally joins south east Asia summer 
-1
redmusic1 Apr 19, 2026 +4
Yeah except Sydney is literally 6500km from South East Asia.
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thewavefixation Apr 19, 2026 +2
To be fair Cairns is closer to Bali than it is to Sydney
2
Many-Waters Apr 18, 2026 +20
As someone who works outside... Yeah. I wish I could send this to my boss. For now, I simply drink many waters.
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Waste_Jello9947 Apr 18, 2026 +32
They should call it new norm
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Fox_Kurama Apr 19, 2026 +1
Nah, you see, that is too... acknowledging of it.
1
Spudtron98 Apr 19, 2026 +7
Forty degrees at that latitude is pretty bloody cruel, yeah. The humidity is already a killer as it is.
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Tucancancan Apr 19, 2026 +9
I mean they ain't wrong. I remember a day that was 42c last summer and taking (unairconditioned) métro. That shit was cruel. 
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Substantial_Milk8170 Apr 19, 2026 +17
You know the situation is dire when official government agencies drop the scientific jargon and just start calling the weather 'cruel'. We are quite literally cooked.
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Nepridiprav16 Apr 19, 2026 +26
Cruel isn't really good translation here because it implies moral agent. 酷 in compounds like 酷暑日 operates more as a pure intensifier of severity. 酷暑 severe + heat = extreme heat 酷寒 severe + cold = extreme cold These are all semi-technical terms.
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Logitech4873 Apr 19, 2026 +7
When I read the headline, I immediately assumed that the vibe of the word is probably not translated well.
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Fox_Kurama Apr 19, 2026 +1
Does not matter. Nakama, friends or comrades, whatever you translate a term as, it does. Not. Matter. The point is they never needed whatever term they are using before. They could be calling it "nice boat day" and it would not matter (it WOULD be something to make fun of them for if they called it that specific thing but...). One way or another, they are needing to come up with a new term to describe something that did not happen before often enough to require a new designation of ANY kind.
1
pepehandreee Apr 19, 2026 +6
Except 酷暑 is not something new, the term has existed for a very long time lol and it 酷 doesn’t even meant for cruel in this context. Not sure wut is this article up about. People love to made shit up about Chinese characters, but it is extra weird when a Japanese media’s English outlet is doing it.
6
FixedFun1 Apr 19, 2026 +1
Well 暑 means Midsummer and 酷 means Strict. Clearly this is about Midsummer Exams at school.
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invincibl_ Apr 19, 2026 +3
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology uses the word "oppressive" in their standard descriptions these days.
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Fox_Kurama Apr 19, 2026 +1
A term no doubt getting much more frequent use by them. When 40+ years ago they never needed such a term at all.
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instanoodles84 Apr 19, 2026 +4
Im not built for this c***, 30c is cruelly hot for me.
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Maplecook Apr 19, 2026 +1
27 is precisely where I start getting uncomfortable. Whenever my body first says, "Geez, I don't like THIS," I glance at the thermometer, and sure enough, "27 degrees."
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koolforkatskatskats Apr 18, 2026 +23
Because we don't care about the planet it shouldn't be called cruelly hot days anymore, it should be called justly hot days. This is what we've caused. We are the cruel ones
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Larkson9999 Apr 18, 2026 +22
Punishment days
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IntelArtiGen Apr 19, 2026 +5
That's a good name.
5
manachar Apr 19, 2026 +5
Gaia Justice Temps
5
lawpoop Apr 19, 2026 +4
Days of Perdition 
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Bipogram Apr 19, 2026 +1
Vengence days.
1
radicalelation Apr 19, 2026 +1
End of Days
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fishscaleSF5 Apr 19, 2026 +3
I’m surprised they didn’t use the evil sun from super Mario bros 3
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T_RAYRAY Apr 19, 2026 +4
40°C = 104°F I had to look it up because even though us public education teaches it, that relative value/ conversion factor never comes up in 4+ decades of my sheltered American life. I’ve tried to remember over the years… but the most I can retain is “mid to upper 30°C is hot!”
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Starfox-sf Apr 19, 2026 +2
37°C = Body temp
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razor1n Apr 19, 2026 +1
0 = freeze 10 = cold 20= room 30 = summer 40 = humans start dying from wet bulb
1
macross1984 Apr 19, 2026 +2
Anything above 40 degree Celsius which is bad enough but bonus of high humidity of Japan make it brutally miserable and deadly to elderly and households without AC.
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PassionInitial7487 Apr 19, 2026 +3
I've been to Japan in the summer, it's so brutally hot and humid that you step outside your hotel for 5 minutes and you're already completely soaked in sweat.
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Lowskillbookreviews Apr 19, 2026 +2
Is this a move to make people take the heat more seriously? Every summer there’s people that die from heat injuries because they underestimate how quickly the heat will kill you.
2
zydexx Apr 19, 2026 +2
Cruel Summer coming.
2
SeasonElectrical3173 Apr 19, 2026
Wet Hot Japanese Summer
0
ElApple Apr 19, 2026 +1
*Yamete kudasai*
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turb0_encapsulator Apr 18, 2026 +3
seems unnecessary since Trump says the world is cooling.
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Fox_Kurama Apr 19, 2026 +1
This would be a thing I crosspost if I ever knew how to make sure I did that normally. Specifically to the collapse sub.
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LeanUntilBlue Apr 19, 2026 +1
That’s 104°F in freedom units.
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Dry_Chipmunk2140 Apr 19, 2026 -3
deserved it because they support israel and usa illegal war.
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Brief_Original Apr 19, 2026 -2
Calling it a cruelly hot day is the most Japanese way possible to describe climate change. Direct and poetic at the same time.
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Jingtseng Apr 19, 2026 -6
This is “news”? Whoopee.
-6
SeasonElectrical3173 Apr 19, 2026 +6
It is. And the fact that people like you are trying to be dismissive of it proves even more it's important that this stuff be communicated out there. It's not 2002 anymore, these old tactics you guys use to trick people online to support the oligarchs you simp for don't work anymore.
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