Japanese Record Snowfalls

Above, the night of February 14 in Ueno, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

They're still talking about the snowstorms of February as they were unusually heavy in the Tokyo metropolitan region of Japan.

Wunderground.com has posted a look at the snowstorms of last month as well as a history of snowstorms in Japan since the 1800s.

They start with:

February was an interesting month for Japan snow-wise. A couple of rare heavy snowfalls struck the greater Tokyo area with one city, Kofu, smashing its all-time snow depth record with 114 cm/44.9” accumulating by February 15th. Details about this storm can be found here. However, the normally very snowy areas on the west coast of Honshu Island have averaged much below normal (as little as 34% of normal snowfall in some areas). Here is a summary of Japan’s all-time snow records.

It is interesting that the two storms (February 8-9 and 14-15) averaged about 27cm of snow each. But, the later storm seems to have dumped more in the suburbs of Tokyo than the earlier one. The link in the above paragraph goes more in-depth on the two storms of last month.

Above, the morning of February 15 in Ueno, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

To read the article, go here.