Atomic winter in Japan?

Death toll climbs to 56 as heavy snow buffets Japan

AFP Updated February 2, 2012, 7:29 pm

TOKYO (AFP) - Heavy snow that has blanketed northern Japan for weeks, triggering avalanches and disrupting transport networks, has left at least 56 people dead, officials said Thursday.

In one of the country's coldest winters in recent years, 43 people have died as they removed snow from roofs or roads, while seven more were crushed by heavy loads of snow falling from buildings or other structures, the disaster management agency said.

Four people have died in avalanches, with the latest snow slide reported in northern Akita prefecture at a popular mountain resort known for therapeutic hot-spring baths, which left three holidaymakers dead.

The 40-metre-wide (130 feet) avalanche crushed three tents near a naturally heated rock site Wednesday.

Local police and rescuers continued their search Thursday "to confirm there are no others buried in the snow", a police spokeswoman said.

The extreme weather, which has filled evening news reports for weeks, has also claimed two other lives, the government agency said.

Heavy snow has covered the northernmost island of Hokkaido and much of the north of the main Japanese island of Honshu, particularly affecting the country's western side.

In Sukayu, in northern Aomori prefecture, where the temperature went down as low as minus 9.2 degrees Celsius (15 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday, 4.29 metres of snow is on the ground.

Yamagata and Niigata prefectures have more than three metres of snow, the weather agency said.

Atrocious conditions have led to the cancellation of flights and numerous train delays, including to parts of the shinkansen bullet train system.

In Aomori, a heavy snowstorm on Wednesday night stranded more than 100 cars on one road, forcing 250 people to seek shelter for the night in local schools, reports said

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Record lows recorded at 38 locations

The nation experienced severe cold weather Friday with temperatures dropping to record lows at 38 locations in the morning, the Meteorological Agency said. From Tohoku to Kyushu, temperatures hit their lowest records in 16 prefectures, including the town of Kusu in Oita Prefecture, where temperature fell to minus 14.7 degrees. In Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, it was minus 8.4. Of 927 observation points, over 90 percent, or 874 sites, marked temperatures below zero early Friday, the agency said. The lowest figure observed was minus 32.6 in Esashi, Hokkaido. The agency said the cold air mass that led to blizzards in several Sea of Japan coastal areas has now passed over the archipelago.

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Heavy snow to continue in Sea of Japan coastal areas through Fri.

Police and others search a stone spa where an avalanche occurred, in Senboku, Akita Prefecture, on Feb. 2. (Mainichi)

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Heavy snow and blizzards hit areas along the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, with the weather agency warning of continued heavy snowfall through Thursday to Friday.

More than 4 meters of snow had accumulated in Aomori city's Sukayu hot spring area by Wednesday, while some areas of Yamagata and Niigata prefectures had snow over 3 meters deep, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

In Semboku, Akita Prefecture, three people were found in a state of cardiac arrest after they were caught in an avalanche while taking a bedrock bath at a hot spring inn, and all subsequently died.

Etsuko Kusakai, 63, from Yokohama, Yuzuru Saito, 59, from Semboku, and Yoko Masukawa, 65, from Tokyo, were confirmed dead later, the police said.

Snow is leveled after being transported to the bed of Jinzu River in Toyama Prefecture on Feb. 1, 2012. (Mainichi)

Three tents set up for the bedrock baths on the premises of the Tamagawa Onsen inn were crushed and covered with snow to a depth of about 1.5 meters, according to the police and the inn.

According to the Akita Local Meteorological Observatory, snowfall of 115 centimeters was recorded at an observation point near the inn as of 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Winds measured up to 132.48 kilometers per hour in Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture, 116.64 kph in Cape Erimo in Hokkaido, 109.80 kph in Akita, the capital of Akita Prefecture, and 101.88 kph in Sado, Niigata Prefecture, the weather agency said.

In Aomori Prefecture, several hundred vehicles were stranded on Route 279 after a 40-km section from Nobeji to Mutsu was closed as a truck and a bus could not ascend a slope at the town of Yokohama amid snowstorm around 5 p.m. Wednesday, causing a traffic jam, according to local authorities. There were no reports of injuries.

Early Thursday, Aomori Gov. Shingo Mimura asked the Maritime Self-Defense Force to send a disaster relief mission, while the town offered refuge to some 150 people stranded within the cars by opening nearby schools and assembly halls.

The weather agency said that snowfall will peak Thursday and continue through Friday along Sea of Japan coastal regions from northern to western Japan, as well as in mountain areas on Shikoku Island.

A man removes snow around a vehicle in Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture, on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. A storm coming in over the Sea of Japan brought snow and wind to Japan's west coast Wednesday. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Up to 80 cm of snow is expected in the 24 hours through Thursday evening in the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions, 60 cm in the Kinki and Chugoku regions, 50 cm in the Kanto-Koshin and Tokai regions, and 20 cm in Shikoku.

The agency also warned of high waves of up to 8 meters through Thursday in the sea off northern Japan and the Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan side of central Japan.

(Mainichi Japan) February 2, 2012

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