Japan’s Mount Fuji remained snowless on Tuesday, marking the most recent date that its slopes have been naked since information started 130 years in the past, the nation’s climate company stated.
The volcano’s snowcap begins forming on 2 October on common, and final yr snow was first detected there on 5 October.
However due to heat climate, this yr no snowfall had but been noticed on Japan’s highest mountain, stated Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster at Kofu Native Meteorological Workplace.
That marked the most recent date since comparative knowledge turned obtainable in 1894, he stated, beating the earlier report of 26 October – which had been recorded twice, in 1955 and 2016.
“Temperatures had been excessive this summer season, and these excessive temperatures continued into September, deterring chilly air” which brings snow, Katsuta instructed the AFP information company.
He stated local weather change may need a level of influence on the delay within the snowcap’s formation.
Japan’s summer season this yr was the joint hottest on report – equalling the extent seen in 2023 – as excessive heatwaves fuelled by local weather change engulfed many elements of the globe.
Mount Fuji is roofed in snow for a lot of the yr, however in the course of the July-September mountaineering season greater than 220,000 guests trudge up its steep, rocky slopes. Many climb by way of the night time to see the dawn from the three,776-metre summit.
Fewer climbers tackled Mount Fuji this yr, nonetheless, after Japanese authorities launched an entry payment and a each day cap on numbers to battle overtourism.
The symmetrical mountain has been immortalised in numerous artworks, together with Hokusai’s “Nice Wave”.
It final erupted about 300 years in the past.
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