Locals worried by ice, snow falling from Tokyo Sky Tree

The spokesperson also said that 20 CCTV cameras have been installed to measure the weather situation and to ensure that operators are aware of snow build-up as it occurs.

And, what exactly are they gonna do when it does build up? Send someone outside to collect it or evacuate everybody within a 400m radius?

It was on the news and quite dangerous actually.

So the widows are ok. But what about the top and other places where there are no windows?

3,000 tiny electric heaters that are designed to melt the snow and stop it from building up

The problem, on the other hand, may be on the window panes, railings and ledges where water drip from. On cold weather, when these mini-heaters go to work, these may be enough for the window panes, but as soon as it leaves the glass, it may form to ice, making it a worse threat for the ones below.

So the montiors will be able to monitor the build up of snow and ice but nobody will be able to do anything about, sounds completely logical to me coming out of japan, that is exactly what one would expect, a complete half arsed solution and response.

People in this country complain about everything! i never hear anyone having a problem in NYC or Chicago, more cold and taller building, is just for unique japan this ice problem?

Saw it on TV last winter, scary. The problem is not around the observation deck (was that already there last year?) but more with the tower construction of steel pipes. Snow will accumulate in those corners and once the sun comes out it will slide off the rounded surface. The_True: have you ever seen "snow" in Tokyo? It is very wet, high water-concentration. That is why it sticks much easier onto building corners and also why it doesn't melt so easy during sunshine.

I bet the designers of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai have this issue sorted out.

I'd be more worried about the whole bloody tower tipping over in a major quake. Think of the mess that would cause! Godzilla squared!

Sorry, but if enough snow falls it's just going to accumulate over the melting snow on the windows and slide off... or worse... FREEZE and slide off. And unless the many cameras have lasers to zap the snow where there are no windows it's still going to accumulate and fall off of those areas onto the streets below. We'll be hearing about accidents based on this in the future, I'm sure.

I hope no tsuraras come falling down from the Sky Tree! I think tsurara in English is an icecical?? Not too sure if this is the UK spelling or the US spelling, so anyway make sure you do not get stabbed by a piece of ice falling at great speeds!

The structure is a giant cross cross of metal, what is stopping the snow from forming there?

This is a problem on bridges in Hokkaido, too. They actually have crews go round knocking off the accreted ice and snow. They're trying to design surfaces that counter such accretion.

20 CCTV cameras have been installed to measure the weather situation and to ensure that operators are aware of snow build-up as it occurs.

Are these 20 enough to cover the entire monstrosity's structural surface?

Right now, I'm just imagining: a 3-kilogram slush drops off from a height of 400 meters (not the top, but yeah, the snow may build up anywhere). It may just splat a passing car, a pedestrian, or a roof. What damage could this do?

"It's A Bird... It's A Plane... It's Falling Ice! Get out of the way!"

Britain had this problem licked centuries ago.

It is called a helter skelter.

@JosephJ: Icing has never been a problem in Dubai, the average minimum temperature in January (the coldest month) is 15.5 C and lowest on record is about 8 C and only 18mm of percipitation average in the whole month of January. I mentioned this a few months back when they announced that they had reach a new record height for a free standing tower. At that time no windows had been installed but they had car-door-sized sheets of ice landing blocks away. So woth the new monitors, I guess they can issue fall ice warnings........so what does the public do when there is a warning, what the skies? How about cars driving in the area?

I dont know weather to laugh or cry.............

I guess these minicams are for filming ice-bombs away! to show on youtube or something wtf!

Besides the pissing contest and building envy Japan has, what on earth is the point of this eye sore?

Funny, never have I heard people worried about the CN Tower or other towers in snowy areas.

Ice falling from Chicago buildings including the Willis Tower in Chicago (formerly known as the Sears Tower) is an annual problem. In 1994 a man was killed by ice that fell just four stories from a department store onto Michigan avenue.

Tokyo Sky Tree is a very clever piece of engineering, but they were limited at the base by the narrow triangular shape of the old railway/railroad marshalling yards there. Have they been too clever for themselves? Hubris?

Although I admire what they did, I remember expressing the opinion here on JT that a Hundertwasser style of green gardens living complex would have been much more suitable for Tokyo, for a number of reasons too obvious to state here.

snow & ice ????? what snow ? It usually turns to slush !!!!! Snow doesn't last long in tokyo.

The top of the tower will be about 2­°C colder than at street level. I agree with other's that melting snow off the windows when the temperature is 0°C or lower is just going to allow the melted snow to refreeze below the windows - in larger than normal quantities. Then with the next strong wind the ice will get blown off and fall downwind of the tower.

@tmarie,

Besides the pissing contest and building envy Japan has, what on earth is the point of this eye sore?

It's a support platform for digital TV transmission antennas. It had to be built higher than Tokyo Tower (the analog TV transmission tower) because the digital signals are more "line of sight" than the analog signals are.

As tmarie says above, we've never heard of trouble around the CN Tower in Toronto. There's no need to re-invent the wheel. Just do what they did.

Fadamor, indeed, a new tower needed to be built but nothing the size of this monstrosity. Too much money with an ego issue.

Another problem that was unthinkable when they designed it, eh, 想定外？

@tmarie,

Fadamor, indeed, a new tower needed to be built but nothing the size of this monstrosity. Too much money with an ego issue.

Not sure what you mean by "monstrosity" if you're agreeing that the tower needed to be built. If you mean "monstrosity in height", the tower needed to be that high in order for the TV signals to reach past all the skyscrapers already in existence in Tokyo. If you mean "monstrosity in girth", the tower needs to be able to survive potential typhoons as well as earthquakes, so the base of the tower needs to be sturdy and resist lateral forces. That means the base is going to be wider than the majority of the tower. How many hurricanes have the CN tower had to face?

also @tmarie,

Funny, never have I heard people worried about the CN Tower or other towers in snowy areas.

A quick search on Wikipedia reveals the following under the CN Tower entry:

A freezing rain storm on March 2, 2007 resulted in a layer of ice several centimetres thick forming on the side of the tower and other downtown buildings. The sun thawed the ice, and winds of up to 90 km/h (56 mph) blew some of it away from the structure. There were fears that cars and windows of nearby buildings would be smashed by large chunks of ice. In response, police closed some streets surrounding the tower. During morning rush hour on March 5, police expanded the area of closed streets to include the Gardiner Expressway 310 metres (1,017 ft) away from the tower, as increased winds blew the ice farther away, as far north as King Street, 490 metres (1,608 ft) away, where a taxicab window was shattered.

On March 6, the Gardiner Expressway was reopened after winds died down.[22]

So yes, people in Toronto DO worry about ice on the CN Tower.