While it hasn’t broken any records yet, signs are still good we’ll have a bumper season this year. The prevailing El Nino weather system of last year – which meteorologists blamed for what was believed to be the lowest snowfall in 80 years – has backed off and in exchange we’ve got its snow-friendly sibling.
El Nino is Spanish for little boy and describes a weather pattern that often severely affects the climates of countries in and around the Pacific Ocean – generally in the form of droughts, floods, and temperature extremes.
La Nina on the other hand, means little girl, and brings very different but similarly extreme weather patterns to the same areas.
In Japan, cold northwest winds typically blow over the Sea of Japan and form snow clouds as they meet the warm water vapour off the ocean, thereby bringing heavy snowfall to areas along Japan’s western coastline.
Last year’s El Nino disrupted that pattern hence a lower than usual snowfall.
The Japan Meteorological Association says La Nina winters in Japan are generally colder than usual. Associate that with higher than average precipitation and you have yourself a mouth-watering recipe for a lot of deep, dry powder snow. We don’t want to get your hopes up in case we’re being overly optimistic, but we’re feeling pretty good about what’s in store.