Snow forecast next week on Mount Fuji, at last

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2024-11-01 21:00:05

Mount Fuji, snowless for the longest since records began 130 years ago, is expected to finally get its famous white cap back next week, a local forecaster said on Thursday.

Snow on average begins forming on Japan's highest mountain on October 2 and the latest it had been detected before this year was in 1955 and 2016, when it fell on October 26.

"Rain is likely to fall temporarily near Mount Fuji on November 6," forecasting website tenki.jp, run by the Japan Weather Association, said on Thursday.

"Cold air will move in and change from rain to snow near the summit," it said. "The weather will gradually clear up, and the first snow on the mountain may be observed on the morning of the 7th."

At Lake Kawaguchi, a favorite viewing spot for the volcano, French visitor Hugo Koide told AFP it was "quite shocking to see at this time of year there's no snow."

The 25-year-old, who used to visit the area in autumn in his childhood, said he remembered how Fuji "was always covered by snow."