TOKYO, Aug 17 — Japan on Thursday issued the highest-level heatstroke alert for its Tokyo metropolitan area as the summer heat continues to bake many parts of the country, according to the Ministry of the Environment, reported Xinhua.
Cities of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Yokohama, Mito, Utsunomiya and Maebashi are expecting a dangerous level of heatstroke risks, as the ministry issued a red alert – the highest in its five-tier warning system.
The ministry advises people in these areas to avoid going outdoors and halt all exercises except in special cases, as the actual temperature is much higher than the skin temperature.
Japan’s weather agency issued heatstroke alerts for eight prefectural regions, including Iwate and Fukushima, with temperatures as high as 35 degrees Celcius.
The country’s heatstroke warning system is based on the Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature index, one of the empirical indices representing heat stress to which an individual is exposed, including temperature, humidity and the amount of solar radiation.
A reading above 31 is labelled “danger”, indicating high heatstroke risks.
