The Okinawa Meteorological Agency announced that the rainy season on Okinawa has started.

Officials at the agency declared that this year’s rainy season started officially at 11:00, on May 16th. It’s seven days later than average and four days earlier than last year. The agency explains that because of a frontal line and high humidity will cause rainy weather to continue at least through this weekend, they announced the rainy season started.

The rainy season was also declared started on the same day in the Amami Oshima area of Kagoshima Prefecture just north of Okinawa.

According to the Meteorological Agency, a strong Pacific high pressure area above Okinawa pushed the low pressure front north, away from the island until mid May, causing many sunny days and pushing the weather change into the rainy season later than on average. Now the rainy front above Okinawa has become sandwiched between high pressure fronts from the Chinese landmass and from the Pacific Ocean, and it’s expected to stay above the island at least through this week, causing rain and heavy clouds for a while.

On average, the rainy season on Okinawa starts on May 9th and ends on Jun. 23rd. Last year, the rainy season started on May 20th and ended Jun. 8th.

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