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STORY: :: Mount Fuji gets its latest first snowfall in at least 130 years

:: November 7, 2024

:: Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

:: Mamoru Matsumoto, Japan Meteorological Agency's Kofu Weather Station

:: "There is an overall trend that the observation of the first snowfall on Mount Fuji is getting later. However, the cause is not yet clearly understood, but one reason we can raise is that the temperature around the summit of Mount Fuji has been high since the autumn this year. // My main feeling is that I'm relieved to finally see the snow."

:: "So when I first got here that day I saw no snow, I was like what, like it doesn't even look like Mount Fuji. But the next day we got, we ended up getting a little bit of snow and just, it's such a huge difference between no snow and snow."

The Kofu Weather Station, which makes the annual official announcement, said its staff had visually confirmed some snow near the 12,388 ft summit of the country's tallest volcano on Thursday morning.

While some snowfall was seen from the southern side of the mountain on Wednesday (November 6), clouds obscured the view of the peak, delaying official confirmation.

The "first snowfall" on Mount Fuji is defined as when all or part of the mountain is covered with snow or "white-looking solid precipitation", and can be viewed from the Kofu observatory for the first time after summer.

This year's official snowcap confirmation marks the latest since records began in 1894.