TMCnet News
Meteorological Agency warns of continued heavy snowfall+(Japan Economic Newswire)TOKYO, Dec. 23_(Kyodo) _ The Japan Meteorological Agency on Friday renewed its warning against heavy snow and avalanches in many areas across the nation. Heavy snow is expected particularly in the northern and central Japan regions along the Sea of Japan coast from Friday through Saturday, the agency said. Snow continued to fall Friday morning in a wide range of areas. As of 9 a.m., the village of Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture had accumulated 216 centimeters of snow and the village of Hinoemata in Fukushima Prefecture 200 cm. The city of Gujo in Gifu Prefecture had temporarily accumulated 192 cm of snow on Friday morning, renewing its record of 183 cm for the first time in 14 years. A low-pressure system has rapidly developed over the sea east of Hokkaido, showing a strong winter pressure pattern, the agency said. The winter pressure pattern will ease as the low-pressure system moves east, but a minus 42C cold air mass from the continent will pass over parts of Japan on Saturday and may cause heavy snow again, it said. On Thursday, up to 1.3 million homes in Niigata Prefecture and the Kinki region suffered power outages as strong winds and snow played havoc with electric cables, disrupting traffic and train operations in northern, central and western Japan. |