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Swallowtail (Kamakura Swallowtail Butterfly)
It was very strange summer in Japan in 2001. It was so hot in July in the southern west part and the middle part of Japan and it was so much rain and there was flood in southern west part of Japan. But it was comparatively cool summer in northern east part of Japan.
Though I watches butterflies every year in this season, the results of watching them in this year were very different from past years. Though I wrote 16th. June on my Japanese web page " To tell the truth I can't predict the weather of this summer. Because the order of watching cabbage butterflies and swallowtail butterflies is confused comparing with usual years. In usual years I see cabbage butterflies at first and then I see swallowtail butterflies. But this year I saw swallowtail butterflies at first and a few days after I saw cabbage butterflies. The number of swallowtail butterflies as the index of temperature in summer doesn't show it will be hot summer. But it may possibly be little rain in apricot rainy season of Japan this year." To write like those I needed some courage because hard rain and floods were happening in southern west part of Japan.
I wrote my Japanese web page 1st August again. At that time we all saw that it was little rain in apricot rainy season in Japan this year. I wrote again about the weather in August this year. It was that it might be hot summer in August but not so hot as in July because the number of swallowtail butterflies were not so many to predict it would be so hot. I needed again some courage to predict as such. Because the hotness in July this year was the highest one in weather observation history of Japan. And also the start of summer this year was the fastest in weather observation history of Japan. Apricot Rainy Season was ended at 1st July. In fact it was not so hot August comparing usual August in the middle part of Japan.
The characteristic of the summer this year in Japan was that the weather were very different in southern west part of Japan and in northern east part of Japan. Japanese TV program of NHK "Close up Today" told that it was very interesting and rare weather this summer. The reason why such weather happened in Japan is because of "Dy-Pole Mode Phenomenon". "Dy-Pole Mode Phenomenon" is the phenomenon of the changes of sea water temperature of the east part and the west part of India in the Indian Ocean. Thought this "Dy-Pole Mode Phenomenon" is a hypothesis yet, it is very interesting for me.
At the end of August this year we had one typhoon No.11, so we could be set free from the shortage of water in middle part of Japan. Though whether my prediction was right or fail is fifty-fifty, but even the Meteorological Agency of Japan didn't predict the little rain weather and not so hot summer in August as July. Any way it was very different summer from usual summer and very interesting one this year.
A large brown cicada (Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata)