The peak of Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji remained snow-free on Tuesday. This is the longest snow-free period on Mount Fuji in the 130 years that records of this climate have been kept.
The snow cover of this volcano begins to form on average on October 2, and last year it first snowed on October 5. However, due to the warm weather, no snow has been seen on Japan’s highest mountain so far this year, said Jutaka Kacuta, a forecaster at the Japan Meteorological Agency.
This is the earliest date since 1894 for which comparable data is available, the expert said. This surpassed the previous record of October 26, which was set twice, in 1955 and 2016.
“The temperatures have been high this summer and they continued until September. That removes the cold air that the snow brings,” said Kacuta. According to him, climate changes can also affect the formation of the snow cap on Mount Fuji.
This summer in Japan was, along with 2023, the hottest ever recorded. Even this island state did not escape the great heat waves that hit many parts of the world.
Mount Fuji is covered in snow for most of the year, but during the tourist season from July to September, more than 220,000 visitors make their way to its steep rocky slopes. Many of them climb overnight to watch the sunrise from the 3,776-metre summit of the symmetrical volcano, which erupted 300 years ago.
