No Snow in Tokyo Either + Record Heat in Januray

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TOKYO (AFP) - Tokyo has set a record for its longest snowless winter amid growing worldwide concerns about global warming, according to meteorologists.
The metropolitan area of the capital has not had snow this season, making it the longest snowless winter since statistics were first kept in 1876, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The previous record was set in 1960 when the season's first snowfall was observed on February 10.

"Since we do not forecast any snowfall in the Tokyo area at least over the next week, the record is likely to be extended further," an agency official said.

Tokyo has never had a winter without any snow, he said.

On Friday, the agency said Japan's average temperature in January was the fourth highest on record, at 1.44 degrees above normal. The record was in January 1989 when temperatures in Japan were 2.09 degrees Celsius higher.

The agency said that last month was the world's hottest January on record, with temperatures across the planet 0.45 degrees Celsius above average.

Earlier this month a UN report blamed human activities for global warming and predicted a rise in typhoons, droughts and other natural disasters.

The report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.