Tokyo (AFP) – Snow has finally fallen on Mount Fuji, photos shared by local authorities and residents showed on Wednesday, after the longest period ever when the Japanese mountain has had barren slopes.
Published on: 06/11/2024 – 02:22
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The National Weather Bureau – which compares conditions at the exact same location every year – has not yet announced a new record for the slowest formation of Mount Fuji’s famous snowcap, due to cloudy conditions near the monitoring station.
But photos taken from several points around the active volcano, where skies were clearer early Wednesday, showed a dusting of snow on the summit.
“These are photos of Mount Fuji as seen from City Hall this morning. We could see a thin layer of snow near the summit,” said a post on the official X account of Fuji City, in Japan’s central Shizuoka region.
Many others in the area also posted their own photos of snow on the country’s highest mountain.
“Finally the first layer of snow! Mount Fuji looks good with snow,” said a message from a nursing home, also in Fuji City.
Mount Fuji’s snowcap begins to form on October 2 on average, and last year snow was first discovered on October 5 by government meteorologists stationed in Kofu City.
That makes this year the latest snowfall since comparative data became available in 1894, surpassing the previous record set on October 26 – seen twice, in 1955 and 2016.
A Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) official at the Kofu office told AFP it was still too cloudy there to set a new record, but said they hoped the skies there would clear later Wednesday.
“The temperature is low today,” so any snow on the mountain is likely to remain for now, the official added.
Global warming is one of several factors that have led to the slow snow cover, he said. “The October temperature at the top of Mount Fuji was warmer than average.”
Japan’s summer was the hottest on record this year along with 2023, as extreme heat waves fueled by climate change engulfed many parts of the world.
Mount Fuji is covered in snow most of the year, but during the July-September hiking season, more than 220,000 visitors trudge up its steep, rocky slopes.
Many climb through the night to see the sunrise from the 3,776 meters (12,388 feet) summit.
The symmetrical mountain has been immortalized in countless works of art, including Hokusai’s “Great Wave”. The last eruption was about 300 years ago.
© 2024 AFP