Weekly Wrap-Up: Record Highs Scorch Northeast; Etau Brings Historic Flooding to Japan

By Kevin Byrne, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

September 11,2015; 11:53PM,EDT

 

 

While Labor Day came and went, summer heat continued to surge in the Northeast this week.
Record highs were recorded in many cities on Tuesday, including Hartford, Connecticut, Boston and New York City. The high of 97 degrees Fahrenheit in Central Park was the highest temperature for Sept. 8 since 93 F in 1919.

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Surging heat continued to grip the West Coast as well, with above-normal temperatures reported in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Wildfires raged across the western U.S. as heat persisted. In the case of the West Point Fire in Utah, a rare sight occurred when a firenado developed.
(Photo/Benjamin Hager/Standard-Examiner in Ogden, Utah)
Despite the presence of El Niño, tropical cyclones continued to develop in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Grace formed south of the Cape Verde Islands last Saturday. It tracked westward through the Atlantic and eventually weakened to a tropical rainstorm, bringing needed rain to the northern Caribbean Islands through late this week. After Grace dissipated, Tropical Depression 8 developed then strengthened into Tropical Storm Henri late Wednesday.
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After forming south of Japan last weekend, Etau made landfall as a tropical storm just west of Hamamatsu, Japan, early on Wednesday, local time. The storm brought historic and devastating flooding to parts of the country, with several towns under feet of water.
In the city of Joso, with a population of 60,000, aerial rescues were reported as people waited for help on the roofs of buildings. Flood waters were reportedly more than a story deep.

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"Nasushiobara in Tochigi Prefecture reported more than 550 mm (22 inches) of rain in only 24 hours from Wednesday into Thursday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Eric Leister said.
Meanwhile, the tropics remained active in the East Pacific, while Hurricane Linda reached Category 3 strength. While it posed no threat to land, the system did send moisture across parts of the Southwest. Linda dwindled to a post-tropical low Thursday.
The lengthy journey of Kilo, once a Category 4 hurricane in the Central Pacific then a typhoon in the West Pacific, continued. Kilo, now a tropical storm, is the longest-lived tropical cyclone of the year after forming Aug. 20, southeast of Hawaii. It is expected to stay east of Japan.
Several AccuWeather meteorologists and staff writers contributed content to this article.

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