Weather in Japan 2023-up

[Mark]

A week of torrential rain pounded southwestern and central Japan, triggering severe flooding and landslides that killed at least 68 people. Kumamoto prefecture in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu has been hardest hit, and over the weekend residents braced for more extreme weather. On Saturday some areas observed more than 80 mm (3.15 inches) of rainfall per hour and 1,000 mm (more than 3 ft) over three consecutive days. Strong winds, lightning, and tornadoes were also added to the weather warning. The Ministry of Land reported 282 mudslide disasters across 27 prefectures with the largest number, 52, in Kumamoto prefecture.

Eastern and western Japan are on high alert for heavy 24-hour downpours with a risk that rivers in Iwate and Aomori could overflow. New mudslide warnings have also been issued for Kyushu as past rain loosens the ground and damaged river levees inundate low-lying areas.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency says the atmospheric conditions remain unstable over a wide area from western Japan to Tohoku as a result of an active weather front and low pressure system extending over the East China Sea to the Sea of Japan. Local heavy rains are expected to continue for 12 to 15 days.

https://thediplomat.com/2020/07/japan-hammered-by-record-breaking-torrential-rains-and-deadly-floods/

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[Mark]

When officials decided to move the Olympic race walking and marathon events to Sapporo, they didn't expect the races to coincide with the city's longest heatwave in close to a century.



Image: Sapporo CBD. Source: Nryate, Wikimedia Commons.

Back in October 2019, the International Olympic Commitee (IOC) announced that the two outdoor endurance events would be moved from Tokyo to Sapporo. The reason was to reduce the amount of heat stress athletes would be facing in Tokyo during summer.

The move that made sense on paper. At this time of year, the average daytime temperature in Sapporo is around 5ºC cooler than Tokyo.



But this week, Sapporo is as hot as Tokyo as an oppressive heatwave plagues the Hokkaido city that hosted the Winter Olympic Games back in 1972.

Sapporo's average maximum temperature during July and August is about 25-26ºC. However on Monday, the city registered its 13th consecutive day above 30ºC for the first time in 97 years. Sapporo's 34.4ºC on Tuesday was 1.5ºC hotter than Tokyo. This run of days over 30ºC is likely to last until at least Sunday.
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/olympic-marathon-during-sapporos-longest-heatwave-in-97-years/534721

[Mark]

The MSM was keen to promote this year’s Olympic Games as potentially being the “hottest ever!”; but in reality, northern Japan is suffering all-time, never-before seen, record-breaking COLD — and it is going largely unreported.

In Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, the city of Wakkanai registered a daily high of just 51F (10.5C) this week — this was the city’s lowest August reading in 128 years of books, so since 1893 (the Centennial/Gleissberg Minimum).

The mercury plunged even lower overnight, as you’d expect — an astonishing 36.7F (2.61C) was logged early Thursday morning, Aug 11, according to local news station TV Asahi.

Shocked residents spoke of being able see their breath, in the height of summer.
https://electroverse.net/japan-suffers-coldest-summer-temp-in-128-years-noctilucent-clouds-persist-into-august/

[Mark]

HISTORIC SNOW HITS JAPAN
A strong, winter-like Arctic front has been gripping Eastern Asia in recent days.

Focusing in on Japan, the country’s northern prefecture of Hokkaido was hit by historic snowfall on Wednesday, November 24.

In Nayoro City, Hokkaido, for example, cars have been buried after flurries touched 60cm (1.97ft) — this reading is four times the normal amount, and it busted a new record for the month of November.

More impressive records fell elsewhere: “Although it’s still November, unprecedented heavy snow is hitting Northern Japan’s Hokkaido,” wrote Sayaka Mori on Twitter. “77cm (2.53ft) of snow fell in 24 hours (Tue-Wed) in Shumarinai, making it the heaviest since records started in 1981 (for any month of the year),” she added.
https://electroverse.net/historic-snow-hits-japan-russia-china-and-spain/

[Mark]

Japanese authorities ordered TEPCO Power to immediately up its electric supply by a further 1.32 GW on the evening Jan 6, following the addition of 1.22 GW ordered earlier in the day, after blistering cold across the country raised heating demand.

Japan’s spot electricity price has shot up over the last few days on a sudden drop in temperatures and a surge in demand.

“I think we will continue seeing spikes for mornings and evenings on cold days in the coming weeks,” one power trader said. “I don’t think the hike in prices is due to an outage at a power generation unit, it is more demand driven.”

This latest directive came as Tokyo, and its surrounding areas, were hit by record snowfall on Jan 6.
https://electroverse.net/record-snow-from-wa-to-ny-japans-frigid-lows-record-snows-vancouver-island/

[Mark]

Eastern Asia has been copping dangerously-cold and snowy conditions these past few weeks, with thousands of North Koreans reported ‘vanished’ during bouts of plunging temperatures, failing infrastructure and food shortages.

Looking to Japan, Monday morning (Jan 30) has delivered more exceptional lows and historic snows.

It was another frigid day in Hokkaido, for example, with a staggering six stations dropping below -30C (-22F) — with a record -32.6C (-26.7F) registered at Shumarinai. While Bibai, located in Sorachi Subprefecture, Hokkaido, posted -29.6C (-21.3F) — the locale’s new all-time record low in books dating back to 1977.
https://electroverse.co/siberia-japan-freese-snow-in-mallorca-south-pole-cooling-trend/

[Mark]

Despite regional pockets of heat, the Asian continent is actually holding anomalously cold.

From European-Russia, to Siberia, to Mongolia, much of Asia is currently under ‘blues’ and ‘purples’, it is really only Kazakhstan that is feeling the summer heat — this after what proved a historically cold winter for the transcontinental landlocked country.

And China, despite the extensive warm-mongering MSM reporting is now also swinging to anomalous cold:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) for Friday (July 14)

The northern half of China, in particular, is on course to suffer exceptional summer chills over the next week-or-so, readings some 18C below the multidecadal norm.

In fact, cold is already gripping the far northeast, and is readily spilling across the Sea of Japan:
https://electroverse.info/july-snow-bc-where-has-the-summer-gone-utahs-historically-cold-2023-cold-engulfs-japan/

[Mark]

Some buildings in Wajima city collapsed due to Monday's earthquake.
A 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck western Japan on Monday afternoon, triggering tsunami alerts as far away as eastern Russia and prompting a warning for residents to evacuate affected coastal areas of Japan as soon as possible.

The earthquake struck at 4:10 p.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), around 42 kilometers (26 miles) northeast of Anamizu in Ishikawa prefecture, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The Japan Meteorological Agency immediately issued a tsunami warning along coastal regions of western Japan, and the first waves were reported hitting the coast just over 10 minutes later.

Some of the first reports came from the city of Wajima in Ishikawa prefecture, which saw tsunami waves of around 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) around 4:21 p.m., according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK. No immediate damage was reported.

Suzu city officials in Ishikawa told CNN that buildings have been damaged and there were reports of injuries. Police in the city said some people were trapped in damaged houses, according to NHK. No deaths have been reported so far.

A major tsunami warning was in place in the city of Noto in Ishikawa, with waves of around 5 meters expected, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

https://www.sott.net/article/487376-Massive-7-5-magnitude-earthquake-hits-western-Japan-triggering-tsunami-warnings-at-least-48-dead-UPDATE

[Mark]

A powerful M7.6 earthquake centered in the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture, central Japan, on January 1, 2024, was followed by intense snowfall a week later, creating very hard conditions for survivors and complicating rescue efforts. On January 8, authorities reported 161 fatalities caused by the earthquake and 305 people missing.

Areas affected by the recent M7.6 earthquake in central Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture are now facing intense snowfall, creating additional challenges for survivors and rescue teams. The Japan Meteorological Agency and authorities are urging people to take extra caution, particularly with quake-damaged buildings at risk of collapse under the weight of the snow, and to stay warm amid the severe cold to prevent hypothermia.
https://watchers.news/2024/01/08/heavy-to-record-breaking-snowfall-hitting-japan-including-earthquake-hit-ishikawa-prefecture/

[Mark]

This week, Japan has been engulfed by a mass of descending Arctic air.

March-like cold has gripped the entire country:



The northern prefecture of Hokkaido has posted some of the coldest temperatures.

Asahikawa's low of -1.2C (29.8F) on Thursday —for example— has been confirmed as the city's coldest May temperature since 2005. Teshio dipped lower still, the -4.9C (23.7F) registered there is the town's second-lowest temperature ever recorded (in books dating back to 1978), bested only by the -5.7C (21.7F) set during the May of 2009 (the deep solar minimum of weak cycle 23).

May snow has even been falling in these parts, even after Golden Week — a big national holiday running from 29 April to 5 May.

More than 10 cm (4 inches) has hit the higher elevations, while even lower down, on the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, substantial flurries have been noted for the time of year, as revealed by the below webcam shot of the Ukishima Tunnel on National Route 273:
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/record-may-cold-in-japan-ipcc-arctic

[Mark]

Polar cold has gripped Japan this week, felling long-standing temperature records.

The northern Tōhoku region has copped the worst of it, with Yabukawa posting -1.8C (28.8F) on May 26, its lowest May reading since the -1.9C (28.6F) set on May 29, 1989.




It's proving an unsettled bag for eastern Asia this week, with fierce cold anomalies striking through the heart of the region:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) May 29 [tropicaltidbits.com].

While for the continent at large, pinks and purples have been dominating large swathes, most notably in Russia and Kazakhstan:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) May 29 [tropicaltidbits.com].

Heavy and rare late-May snows have also been noted, across the likes of Kyrgyzstan, including in Kopuro-Baza, Talas on May 26:
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/record-cold-strikes-japan-frigid

[Mark]

Polar cold has gripped Japan this week, felling long-standing temperature records.

The northern Tōhoku region has copped the worst of it, with Yabukawa posting -1.8C (28.8F) on May 26, its lowest May reading since the -1.9C (28.6F) set on May 29, 1989.




It's proving an unsettled bag for eastern Asia this week, with fierce cold anomalies striking through the heart of the region:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) May 29 [tropicaltidbits.com].

While for the continent at large, pinks and purples have been dominating large swathes, most notably in Russia and Kazakhstan:



GFS 2m Temperature Anomalies (C) May 29 [tropicaltidbits.com].

Heavy and rare late-May snows have also been noted, across the likes of Kyrgyzstan, including in Kopuro-Baza, Talas on May 26:

https://electroverse.substack.com/p/record-cold-strikes-japan-frigid

[Mark]

Jeremy Gray
Petapixel.com
Mon, 29 Jul 2024 13:15 UTC
mmmmmm
Incredible new footage shows the Sakurajima volcano erupting in Kyushu, Japan today, spewing volcanic ash high into the air and causing Japanese authorities to issue an ash advisory.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1817852690690371729
Sakurajima, also known as "Cherry Blossom Island," is a stratovolcano, and its summit has three peaks, Kita-dake, Naka-dake, and Minami-dake, the lattermost of which remains active. The peninsula has a relatively small population of a few thousand residents and is a popular tourist destination thanks partly to artisan pottery made using volcanic ash.

The latest eruption, captured on video by Nobumi Moriya and shared by Volcanholic1 on Threads, sent ash plumes up to six kilometers (3.7 miles) into the air above Minami-dake.
https://www.sott.net/article/493555-Footage-shows-the-scale-of-new-eruption-at-Sakurajima-volcano-in-Japan

[Mark]

One person was killed and at least seven were missing on Sept 21, officials said, as "unprecedented" rains triggered floods and landslides in Japan's quake-hit region of Ishikawa, where authorities told tens of thousands to evacuate.

A dozen rivers in the region, on the west coast of central Japan that was hit by a large quake on New Year's Day, had burst their banks as at 11am (10am Singapore time), Land Ministry official Masaru Kojima said.

One person was killed, three people were missing and two people were seriously injured in Ishikawa, the region's government said in a statement, with two of the missing reportedly carried away by strong river currents.

Another four people, who were working for the land ministry to restore a road in Wajima, were also missing, ministry official Koji Yamamoto told AFP.

"About 60 people have been working to restore a road hit by the quake but a landslide occurred" on Sept 21 morning, he said.

"I asked (contractors) to check the safety of workers... but we are still unable to contact four people."
https://www.sott.net/category/4-Earth-Changes?page=1

[Mark]

Japan's ski resorts are experiencing one of their snowiest starts to a season on record, with several resorts reporting snow depths exceeding 400 cm (13 feet).

ARAI Snow Resort in Myoko City, Niigata is currently leads with 486 cm (16 ft), owing to an extra 53 cm (1.74ft) over the past 24-hours.

In total, some 30 ski areas across the country are reporting snow depths above 300 cm. Resorts in Niigata, Nagano, and Yamagata dominate the list.



Aomori Prefecture, Japan

While Japan is no stranger to heavy snow, this season stands out.

Several resorts have already surpassed their average peak season snow depths, and conditions rival some of the heaviest winters on record, particularly at ARAI, Charmant Hiuchi, Tengendai Kogen, and Hakuba Happo-One—to name just four.

The snowy conditions are forecast to persist; historically, Japan sees its heaviest snowfall from mid to late January.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/japan-resorts-near-5-meters-164-feet

[Mark]

Japan has been experiencing extraordinary snowfall this winter, even by its standards. As of Jan 31, at least 32 locations have depths exceeding 300 cm (9.8 feet).

Arai Snow Resort in Myoko City, Niigata, stands out with a staggering 526 cm (17.3 ft).

Other major ski areas, including Charmant Hiuchi (480 cm / 15.7 ft) and Hakuba Happo-one (440 cm / 14.4 ft), continue to see heavy accumulation, providing stellar conditions for winter sports but also posing challenges in terms of avalanches, transportation, and infrastructure maintenance.

The snowfall has been particularly intense in Niigata, Nagano, and Aomori prefectures, where records have fallen.

https://electroverse.substack.com/p/snow-in-japan-exceeds-17-feet-another

[Mark]

A powerful low-pressure system is unleashing record-breaking snowfall along Hokkaido's Pacific coast, with the city of Obihiro accumulating more than 1 meter of snow in just 12 hours through Tuesday.

Heavy snowfall has persisted since Monday night, with Obihiro recording 120 centimeters in the 12 hours through noon on Tuesday, the highest on record for the city. Snow depth in the city has now surpassed 120 centimeters, a level last seen in 1972, according to private weather forecaster Weathernews.

While the cold front's impact is most pronounced in the northern regions along the Sea of Japan, the cold air mass is also pushing westward, spreading snow to the Kyushu region facing the East China Sea and the Shikoku region facing the Seto Inland Sea.

In some parts of Kyushu, temperatures have dropped below minus 12 degrees Celsius, according to Weathernews. Kagoshima Prefecture is experiencing steady snowfall, with accumulations visible on grassy surfaces in..

https://www.sott.net/article/497672-Record-breaking-snowfall-hits-Hokkaido-as-cold-front-sweeps-Japan-120-cms-nearly-4-FEET-of-snow-in-just-12-hours-with-more-heavy-falls-forecast

[Mark]

Japan is enduring its strongest cold wave in years, which is dropping additional record snow to multiple regions.

The Hokuriku region has been hit especially hard, with Niigata City posting 12-hour totals of 50 cm (19.7 inches), with Aikawa in Sado City seeing 38 cm (15 inches)—both the highest ever recorded, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

The cold wave has led to unprecedented snowfall totals across the country. Obihiro City in Hokkaido’s Tokachi region recorded 124 cm (48.8 inches) of snow in just 72 hours (as of Feb 7), setting a new all-time record for the city.

In Gifu Prefecture, Shirakawa Village experienced its highest February snowfall on record, with 156 cm (61.4 inches) settling in 72.

Niigata Prefecture also saw staggering totals. Yasuzuka in Joetsu Municipality received 130 cm (51.2 inches) of snow in 72 hours, while Tokamachi recorded 125 cm (49.2 inches) in the same period--both, again, setting new February records.

Three resorts have now exceeded 600cm (20 ft) for the season — these being Happo-one in Nagano Prefecture with 620cm, Arai in Niigata Prefecture with 614cm, and Charmant Hiuchi, also in Niigata, with 600 cm.
https://electroverse.substack.com/p/snow-records-continue-to-fall-across

[Mark]

Ski resorts in Yuzawa Town in Japan's Niigata prefecture have endured one of the most chaotic weeks in recent memory, with strong winds and heavy snowfalls burying chairlifts and forcing lift closures.

Kagura Ski Resort bore the brunt of the storms, reporting three metres of snow in just three days, forcing a total suspension of lift operations on Wednesday and Thursday and partial closures at other times.

GALA Yuzawa ski resort was closed for the day on Friday - the first time is has ever completely closed due to heavy snowfall, according to a post on Snow Japan.

A Facebook post from Kagura on February 20, which has now had more than 4,000 engagements, apologised for the interruption and pleaded with followers for their understanding.
https://www.sott.net/article/498024-Japanese-ski-resort-receives-staggering-3-meters-of-snow-in-3-days

[Mark]

It may be mid-spring but Japan’s Gassan ski area is just getting started — and it’s buried under record snow. The resort opened April 11 with a staggering 950 centimeters (374 inches) of snow.

Located on Mount Gassan in Yamagata Prefecture, the ski area is inaccessible during winter due to extreme snowfall. Snowplows don’t reach the 7 mile access road until April, when massive snow walls become a tourist attraction themselves.

This year’s winter dumped so much snow that even three weeks after opening, the base remains at 890 centimeters (350 inches).

The resort is expected to run until July, or as long as the snow holds.