The lack of snow cover in December left Japan’s iconic mountain looking a little different than usual.
Even as record snowfall has clobbered Japan’s western coast, much of the country’s eastern half has avoided major snow accumulation this winter. Notably, Mount Fuji’s iconic snow cap—which is normally visible throughout December—has been small or absent this year.
The mountain peak, the tallest in Japan, did get a dusting on September 28, 2020, its first snowfall of the year. But that melted off quickly, and Fuji’s snow cap remained elusive in the coming months. Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI) observations from NASA’s Terra satellite indicate that snow cover on the mountain last month was among the lowest in the satellite's 20-year record for any December.
Ground-based weather stations made similar observations. “Stations around Mount Fuji recorded much less precipitation than usual in December,” said Toshio Iguchi, a remote sensing scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Continue reading at NASA Earth Observatory
Image via NASA Earth Observatory
