The Okinawa Meteorological Agency declared the end of the annual rainy season in the prefecture, Thursday.

The rainy season this year started May 20th, eleven days later than usual and 15 days later than last year.

It ended today 12 days earlier than average and 15 days earlier than last year making it the third shortest on record on Okinawa lasting only 22 days.

On average, the water reservoirs in the prefecture are filled to 63.8 percent of capacity as of today, which is 11.6 percentage points less than usual.

As for the rest of the country, meteorologists say Japan is expected to see a longer than usual rainy season this year as the El Nino weather pattern is expected to grow stronger.

El Nino means that the sea temperatures stay above average in the eastern tropical Pacific areas.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, sea surface temperatures at monitoring points were 0.2 degrees Celsius above average levels in February and March, 0.8 degrees up in April and 1.2 degrees higher in May.

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