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Has the climate in Nikkō changed?

Nikkō has warmed about 2.2°F between 1971 and 2020.

About 0.5°F per decade, measured from Nikkō's official daily weather records, 1971–2020. Individual years still bounce around — some recent ones came in cool — but the long-term line has clearly risen.

Is that a lot? Nikkō's warming is broadly in line with other cities in Japan — neither unusually fast nor unusually slow.

What has actually changed

Each card compares the 1970s (the first ten years of the record) with recent years (the last ten) — the same span the headline and the chart use.

Freezing nights
61 fewer nights
1970s
120 / yr
Recent
59 / yr
Milder winters — fewer frosts
Average temperature
+1.7°F
1970s
52.2°F
Recent
53.8°F
A steady upward drift
Hot days above 90°F
10 more days
1970s
5 / yr
Recent
15 / yr
More days of serious heat
Rainy days
6 fewer days
1970s
126 / yr
Recent
120 / yr
Drier on average

Nikkō's temperature, year by year

Average temperature for each year from 1971 to 2020.

49°51°53°55°57°1971: 51.7°F1972: 53.2°F1973: 52.9°F1974: 51.4°F1975: 52.3°F1976: 51.2°F1977: 52.6°F1978: 52.7°F1979: 54.5°F1980: 51.6°F1981: 51.3°F1982: 52.6°F1983: 51.9°F1984: 50.5°F1985: 52.6°F1986: 51.4°F1987: 53.5°F1988: 51.4°F1989: 53.7°F1992: 56.0°F1993: 51.5°F1994: 54.2°F1995: 52.7°F1996: 52.1°F1997: 53.4°F1998: 53.9°F1999: 54.1°F2000: 53.4°F2001: 50.1°F2002: 53.4°F2003: 52.7°F2004: 53.7°F2005: 52.6°F2006: 53.1°F2007: 53.9°F2008: 53.2°F2009: 53.7°F2010: 54.0°F2011: 53.0°F2012: 53.0°F2013: 53.8°F2014: 53.3°F2015: 54.7°F2016: 54.7°F2017: 53.2°F2018: 54.9°F2019: 54.6°F2020: 55.3°Flong-term trend19711980200020102020
a warmer-than-average year a cooler-than-average year

Each bar is one year. Most recent years sit above the older ones. Some recent years still came in cool — warming is a slope, not a straight climb.

In day-to-day terms, that long-term shift shows up as about 36 fewer freezing nights a year and about 6 more days above 90°F compared with the 1970s.

Methodology & sources

Temperature — the official 1991–2020 climate normals from the Japan Meteorological Agency, measured at Imaichi, about 6 km from the city centre.

How we build these numbers →