Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japanregained its iconic snowy peak today after a record-long period in which it remained bare.
On October 29, its peak hit a negative record: That of the absence of snow after 130 yearsaccording to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Japan’s Mount Fuji remained snowless as of November 5, 2024, the latest date that its majestic slopes have been bare since records were first kept 130 years ago. pic.twitter.com/TauJCuaB1s
— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) November 5, 2024
Staff at the local Meteorological Office in Kofu, which has been announcing Mount Fuji’s first snowfall every year since records began in 1894, spotted some snow near the 3,776-metre peak on the mountain, which is also an active volcano, today in the morning, as he announced.
Fuji’s “first snowfall” is defined as the point where all or part of the mountain is covered with snow, visible from the Kofu observatory for the first time since summer.
In recent years, the first snowfall on Mount Fuji has been delayed, although the reasons for the phenomenon remain unclear, said Mamoru Matsumoto of the Kofu observatory.
“I feel relieved to finally see the snow. The temperature at the top of Fuji has been high since October so I was predicting quite a delay in snowfall, which made me worried,” he said.
The unusually high temperatures meant precipitation did not turn to snow in October when the average summit temperature hit a record high of 1.6 degrees Celsius, compared with the previous October when the average temperature was -2, official data showed.
Japan’s hottest summer this year raised the national average temperature from June to August by 1.76 degrees Celsius more than usual.
Source: RES-MPE
Source: www.enikos.gr
