Unusually warm weather in northern Japan puts damper on winter events

I genuinely worry if this unprecedented warmth means we're in for a hotter than usual summer.

In Japan’s Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, February 15 was “haru-ichiban,” the first warm spring winds.

This year’s haru-ichiban arrived 14 days earlier than 2023 and 22 days earlier than 2019, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). 

Haru-ichiban is defined by the JMA as the first strong warm wind from the south that is observed between “risshun,” the first day of spring under the lunar calendar that fell on February 4 this year, and the vernal equinox, which this year is March 20.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what’s in store for us regarding climate change. You ain’t seen nothing yet, just wait…

The article did not specifically mention Niseko or skiing. That would be relevant to tourism.

Cue a bunch of folk claiming "it's always warm this time of year".

obladiToday  07:42 am JST

The article did not specifically mention Niseko or skiing. That would be relevant to tourism.

The site below has pages where you can compare the snowfalls for each resort for the last decade or so, and for just about all of them this year's snowfalls are well within the normal range.

https://www.snowjapan.com/

I’m not going to say “it’s always warm this time of year,” but I remember a February so warm I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt. I pinned this down to February 2009 and checked Japan Meteorological Agency records. That February had one day of 23.5 degrees. The summer didn’t have particular extreme temps in Tokyo - the July high was 34 - but it’s hard to know how many 34-degree days there were.

Anyway, not unprecedented in Tokyo. But not good.

Overall Japan must be warmer, but surely some areas are normal, some even cold. But for those in Kanto region, definitely a warm winter without question.

Super El Nino this year, so we're getting the warm winter that was expected. This is on top of the general warming trend, of course.

Snowfall at Myoko and Nozawa Onsen is well down on "normal" this season. Its just about normal at Hakuba, which always does well on weather carried in on westerlies, but conditions haven't been great due to warm weather in between. You don't get powder when its plus temps at mid mountain two days after a dump.

Warm the other day but generally colder and minus overnight in western Japan.

This has been a warm winter for sure! I don't think the temperature got down to -10 even once where I live, which is unusual! Call me selfish but I'm not complaining! With the cost of fuel so high it has been a godsend!

Interesting, thanks for that website. However, I keep checking locations at random, and no matter which one I look at, this year's graph is very clearly the lowest. Am I that unlucky in my selection?

I have half a mind writing a quick data scraper to eliminate the randomness.

No worries. This winter has definitely been warmer than usual in Kansai.

Finally after an unusually chilly January.

The cost of heating is higher this winter.

We have saved on heating this winter so far.

early to mid feb is usually the best of the season in Niseko...pics show that it is just slush for the last 2 days...unprecedented indeed

early to mid feb is usually the best of the season in Niseko...pics show that it is just slush for the last 2 days...unprecedented indeed

so lame!!!

I had a few weeks of -9 at night last year in my area, this year the temperature never dropped below -5

Interesting, thanks for that website. However, I keep checking locations at random, and no matter which one I look at, this year's graph is very clearly the lowest. Am I that unlucky in my selection?

The 2019 to 2020 ski season when Covid broke was much worse than this season. Far less snow. 2015 was pretty bad too.

Ahhh, the sky is falling! Run run!!! Its funny how its always too much or to little, just sayin.

Ocean surface temperatures are so high scientists are struggling to explain what's happening.

Very worrying trends.

Hottest year 2023, Hottest 7 months in a row. 2024; hottest January and now February (so far) on record Etc. Etc. Etc.

Newgirlintown

Weather is not climate and only the sun can change that.

As others have mentioned the cause is probably the combination of global warm and El Niño. This may be a very wet rainy season as El Niño ends and leaves its moisture in the Indian Ocean which then comes our way.

Weather is not climate and only the sun can change that.

It has been proved beyond any rational doubt that human activity have changed climate and is already causing negative consequences, the solar activity on the other hand has been already proved not to be a significative cause for the change.

Unseasonably warm weather in northern parts of Japan have caused iconic winter sights to melt away this week, causing ice deposits on trees to no longer appear so monster-like, and snow huts to be capped with blue sheets.

Mother Nature hard at work.

The global increase of temperatures (every day of February is the hottest on record this year for example) is not because of natural causes, it is due to human activity derived climate change.