Japan Snowstorm Dumps Four Feet In Short Order

Incredible snowfall rates reported in Japan this week,
with one town reported receiving four feet of snow
in less than a day. 

It seems to be getting snowier and snowier here in Vermont as we head into late winter, but we are certainly not going to get anything like the northernmost parts of Japan have seen this week. 

Snowfall on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido was record-breaking with four feet of snow reported in the storm in Obihiro. 

It often does snow really hard on parts of Hokkaido as they deal with something akin to those lake effect blizzards we keep hearing about in places like western New York. 

Cold winds blow from the Asian continent from China and Russia and then across the Sea of Japan. The cold winds pick up moisture from the sea. Those cold, now wet winds are forced to ride up the slopes of mountains in northern Japan and dump heavy snow.

The same thing happens in western New York, when for example, cold winds pick up moisture from Lake Ontario and dump it as snow in New York near Watertown and on the Tug Hill Plateau.

The latest storm in Japan, though, was much worse than usual. And more widespread. Plus, it's ongoing.   Some reports say the four feet of snow the dropped on Obihiro came within 12 hours. If verified, that would be the heaviest 12-hour snowfall on record in Japan.

Toyama, Japan had 20 inches of snow in just 12 hours. 

This storm is more widespread than most, even depositing some accumulations on the Pacific coast side of the northern island, which is pretty rare.  Several towns reported more than three feet of snow, and the same amount might fall on the region over the next couple days. 

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the storm and frigid air is "the strongest cold air in several years."

The Associated Press reported local governments had received dozens of calls for help from motorists whose vehicles were stuck in the snow.  Several main highways were shut down, as were airports in the hardest hit cities. 

So far, no major injuries or severe damage has been reported from all this Japanese snow. 

 A similar series of storms hit northern Japan in December  2020 and January, 2021, depositing up to seven feet of snow and stranding more them 1,000 motorists on a snow-buried expressway. 

 Video:

Scenes from the snow in northern Japan. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that: