Tokyo marked a record high temperature for November on Tuesday, rewriting the previous record set 100 years ago, the Meteorological Agency said. The mercury hit 27.5 degrees Celsius just past noon, topping the November 1923 mark of 27.3 C. This record comes amid an unusually warm autumn and follows an especially hot summer, not only in Tokyo but across Japan. On Monday, the temperature in Tokyo reached 25.1 C, marking a record 142 days of the year topping 25 C. The city of Kumamoto saw a high of 25.8 degrees the same day, the 177th day of summer-like weather this year -- the most since records began in 1890.

As spring approaches in Japan, the country's weather forecasters face one of their biggest missions of the year: predicting exactly when the famed cherry blossoms will bloom. Japan's sakura (cherry blossom) season is feverishly anticipated by locals and visitors alike. Many tourists plan their entire trips around the blooms, and Japanese flock to parks in their millions to enjoy the seasonal spectacle. "People pay more attention to the cherry blossom season than any other flower in Japan," said Ryo Dojo, an official of the statistics unit at the Meteorological Agency. The most basic element of predicting when the delicate pink and white petals will begin to unfurl is a large data set of temperatures.