TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's average temperature in 2024 is likely to hit a record high for the second consecutive year, preliminary figures released by the weather agency showed Wednesday.

The average temperature through November was 1.64 C warmer than the annual average for the 30-year period until 2020, hitting the highest level since the agency started releasing data in 1898 and higher than last year's, which exceeded the average by 1.29 C.

The high temperatures were due to warm air being brought in by westerlies that traveled further north than usual in addition to the effects of global warming, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

"It can be said that temperatures were abnormally high," a weather agency official said.

Japan's temperatures have kept rising in recent years, with the five years between 2019 and 2023 dominating the top five hottest years.

In the long term, the annual average temperature has risen 1.35 C every 100 years, the agency said.

The average surface temperature of the seas around Japan was also 1.46 C higher than the annual average as of late November, surpassing a record high marked in 2023 since comparable data became available in 1908.