Reconstruction of summer temperature variations since the 1830s at Kawanishi based on historical weather documents

Abstract

In the present study, we estimated July maximum temperature variations from 1830 to 2011 in the town of Kawanishi in the southern part of Yamagata prefecture using daily weather reports documented in an old personal diary. As a result, we found warm periods in the early 1850s andthe 1880s. Reconstructed temperatures in these periods were almost similar to the temperature of hot summer in the late 20th century. Cool periods were observed in the 1830s and the 1900s, corresponding to the periods of severe famines in northern Japan.