TOKYO - Japan is on course for its hottest August since 1946, partly because of global warming, Kyodo News reported on Monday.

All but one of the nation's four regions are set to log record-high temperatures for the month, Kyodo said, quoting meteorological agency officials.

The figures indicate that this month is likely to be the hottest August since data become available after the end of World War II, Kyodo said.

Agency officials said the record heat might be attributable to a long-term trend of global warming, as well as high atmospheric pressures from the Pacific Ocean and continental Asia, it added.

Scorching summer weather in the country has led to at least 132 deaths and seen more than 30,000 people rushed to hospital with heatstroke, the government said earlier this month.

The mercury has repeatedly topped 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days in central Tokyo and other locations in Japan, and the sun continued to blaze down as the figures were released.