Bizarre Climates | Japan's Snow Coast Explained
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- čas přidán 9. 02. 2022
- On Japan's west coast, facing the Sea of Japan, you will find a climate unlike any other-hot, humid summers followed by some of the snowiest winters at this latitude. The mountains just behind the coastline (Yukiguni, or snow country) have some of the highest snowfall totals on earth. What creates this extraordinary snowfall? And how does it affect people, their history, and their environment? How did the people in cities like Kanazawa, Toyama, Niigata, and Akita adapt to this climate, and how has it shaped their culture?
Image Sources:
NASA Earth Observatory
Google Earth
JMA/Himawari-8, RAMMB/CIRA, TW
Wikipedia Creative Commons: (Pietro Zanarini, Adam Jones, Asturio Canatabrio, Σ64, Hirotomo T, Esquilo, Urya, Imai, Takashi Hososhima, Josh Furr, Holger Behr, Don Ramey Logan, Alpsdake)
Flickr Creative Commons: (JP Newell www.flickr.com/photos/jpnewell/ , Pelican www.flickr.com/photos/pelican/ Vintage Japan-esque www.flickr.com/photos/vintage...)
Japan Population Census of 2005
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Japanese Ornamental Koi Carp: Origin, Variation and Genetics. Biology and Ecology of Carp (pp.27-53). Servaas De Kock, Boris Gomelsky.
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I'm always amazed that "subtropical" can go from a practically tropical climate where even coconut palm can grow (Misiones in my home country in Argentina) to a place where nearly 3 meters of snow fall every winter.
Great video. I would love a whole series on microclimates tbh. I recently found out that my town lies in a foothill microclimate that keeps it a full 2°C hotter, on average, than all surrounding areas (fohn winds from the nearby Appennine). Which is why, during a cold spell last year, my town was the only snow-free area in the whole province.
Microclimates from around the world will be mentioned in the future! Italy has such a wide diversity of environments. I'd love to see it in person some day.
Sei di Prato?
@@casualearth9076pssst , just a reminder to make more stuff about microclimates 😉
Great content. I live in Japan's Tohoku region and the prefectures facing the Sea of Japan are famous for their harsh winter. It's always a crazy experience for me, a Southeast Asian, whenever I go to Akita and see the amount of snow there.
I've seen some video about Aomori, stating that it was the snowiest place on the planet. That's all well and good,but at how much snow was there,i was shocked to learn that the temperatures were kinda high,barely below freezing point.
Is it the same story in that upper west coast of Honshu?!
Not that cold,but due to the proximity to the sea, abundance or precipitations which result in everything being covered in white?
During the day temperatures go above 0?
Clarification: at 3:05 I’m referring to the western Allegheny plateau (downwind from Lake Erie) and the Adirondacks (downwind from Lake Ontario), which have some of the highest snowfall totals in the U.S. Also, at 3:52 I meant to say “Pacific Salmonid species like the Japanese Char and the Yamame”. Redundant.
Don't you mean the Tug Hill Plateau, which is closer to the lake than the Adirondacks and holds some snow records? And you forgot the Keweenaw Peninsula, which is also hammered every winter and also holds some records 😊
2:47 also, the tsushima current flowing from jeju towards wakkanai. Making the sea water relatively warmer, thus vaporizes as the freezing cold Siberian wind passing through. One doesn't need to travel all the way to Hokkaido in order to enjoy gigantic thick snow. Interestingly, even southern cities facing sea of Japan, like tottori and matsue, receive much snowfall than Tokyo and Osaka.
dude you are so wholesome and so knowledgeable. I love the way you end your videos. I also love the beginning and middle parts
Places around the world other than Great Lakes and east coast of Japan where sea/lake effect snow can also happen though not as intense or/and frequent: Southern Chile, Turkey's and Iran's northern coasts, Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and Shandong Peninsula in China (Fun Fact: Last year (2023) in december, Yantai and Wendeng, two cities in the peninsula, recorded highest snow depths ever in coastal China with snow depths of 52 cm (20.4 inches) and 55 cm (21.6 inches), respectively). There are probaly more, but these are the ones I can remember.
For a geographer, you have a strong meteorology game 💪
Very Interesting effects. I knew that Japan got snow, but did not realize it was in the order of 100 in!
afaik the snowiest city in the world's in Japan. Aomori I think?
Im from West Michigan so im aware of lake effect, it gets crazy on the coast. I didnt know there isnt a term for it in the west coast of Japan but it makes sense that "lake effect" can occur there
i think we could agree to call it ‘sea effect snow’
Quite intriguing. I enjoy the unique climate series very much, good work!
Lovely video. I enjoyed both the narration and the visuals. ♥
Japan’s geography is just perfect for epic snowstorms. Very great video thank you. Meteorology and climatology is fascinating
This is a fascinating channel. A well deserved sub
Many cities in southwestern America and northern mexico can get very cold winters, but snowfall there usually happens every two years, even if the thermometer does not rise above 30 F for an entire month , the reason is the low of rainfall,which is not enough for snowstorms to happen. The very opposite effect of japan.
love your videos and topics
Was there is March 2014... 20 degrees Celsius colder than Tokyo.
2:20 I guess this is why Central Vietnam gets massive amounts of rainfall in the winter, combined with overcast skies. The lukewarm (feels pretty cold for most Vietnamese), moist air is forced to rise due to the Trường Sơn range to the west, dropping its moisture over central Vietnam. The locations directly facing the winds (Hà Tĩnh-Thừa Thiên-Huế) get the majority of their more-than-two-meter-per-year rainfall during fall and winter. I hope you make a video about it.
Incredible work!
I don't have much to say but you deserve more engagement so here's a comment
very cool! I assumed this video was going to be about Hokkaido
your videos are awesome, i love the connections you make. id like to ask: what is your area of expertise/specialization?
The only other place I can think of with a climate like this is Cleveland, Ohio.and Erie, Pennsylvania.
You have a humid-subtropical climate, but total 60-100 inches of snow annually.
Fascinating
i love how you explain the weather in a scientific, almost mathematical sense, and then go on to explain how that impacts culture. So fucking cool
I learned something new today
Enhanced ocean effect snow basically.
Also makes it a great place to ski!
This makes me wonder where the most snow falls on earth (on average) and where/how much the greatest amount fell over a year. Ditto for rain. Everybody talks about the highest and lowest recorded temperatures, but never about precipitation. I couldn't even speculate as to where the snowiest/rainiest place on earth would be. That's one video I'd love to see. Heck, you'd almost have to do a series just to do the topic any amount of justice.
Watching this, and waiting for the crash was intense. Glad yer ok and you kept the riding streak going 😅
and because of this, we get anime.. like demonslayer.
I hope this series one day covers Changlang in northeastern india and their himalayan rainforests.
Swegle studios did a video on clouds and why roll clouds form at a certain point in northern Australia due to its uniqie geography. Please can you do a video about this?
Sadly, it seems like the region is one of the most affected when it comes to climate change. I know a lot about Toyama because I've been wanting to move to Japan after university for quite a while now and my top choice has always been Toyama. Toyama barely sees temperatures go below 0°C. The reason it gets snow is because when the Siberian winds come, the temperatures well above sea levels stay very low and it can snow even if it's, let's say, 2°C. That's how it gets so much snow even despite the average 3°C January average temperature. Being so borderline, however, means that the snow could easily stop falling if temperatures went up. In fact, the 253cm of snow that you mentioned are from Wikipedia's page showing the stats from 1991 to 2020. However, I remember when the stats used to be between 1981 and 2010. Back then, they said 373cm and average January temperature of 2.5°C if I remember correctly. The region of Hokuriku is still getting precipitation but barely ant of it is in the form of snow. Just to give you an idea, Tokyo has an average January temperature of 5.4°C. On the Wikipedia page, you can also find the records between 1876 and 1905. Back then, it was 2.9°C, which is 0.1°C colder than what it shows for Toyama today. While stats for Toyama from back then don't exist (as far as I'm aware), we can expect it to have had an average January temperature of around 0°C. That would have created significantly more snow than it gets nowadays
1:47 "In winter, as the interior of the continent cools off, the trend reverses" Water has a higher heat capacity and slower heat conductivity, wouldn't the effect of the land plate be much shorter-lived and weaker than the ocean's one?
I'm not sure what you mean. The contrast in heat capacity is responsible for both the winter monsoon and the summer monsoon.
I was supposed to move to the snowbelt of Japan but I have been reassigned to possibly the most temperate region. I just wanted snow, not miserable humid summers (though that is everywhere in Japan besides maybe Hokkaido)
Great stuff, as always. If you ever decide to make a living doing this, I'll join your channel as a paying member.
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Gladly
Well, the Uesugi were tozama (outsiders) because they sided with the Western Army. I guess Ieyasu took offense at the infamous letter roasting him.
do egypt or russia!!
??????? ?
Wow, didn’t expect the Charlotte shoutout. What’s up neighbor!