Japan's Mount Fuji breaks record for no snow in October
One of the most iconic active volcanoes in the world is missing a major aspect of its famous view: snow.
Mount Fuji, a 12,000-foot peak located on the Japanese island of Honshu, is still lacking any measurable snow, extending a record for no snow in October, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
On Wednesday, the peak's snowcap remained bare, with high temperatures measuring in the 60s (Fahrenheit) and lows in the 50s making it impossible for snow to generate. An observation map by the meteorological agency also shows a lack of snowpack in the region.
This is the longest the peak has ever gone in October without snow settling in, breaking a 130-year record, Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster at the Kofu Local Meteorological Office, told the AFP news agency.
Typically, snow begins forming on Mount Fuji around Oct. 2, according to the weather agency. In 2023, snow appeared on Oct. 5, records show.
The previous record for the latest snowcap on Mount Fuji was Oct. 26 -- set in 1955 and 2016, according to the weather agency, which began keeping records in 1894.
The local meteorology office, which was established that same year, announces the first snowfall on Mount Fuji every year -- a marker that winter has arrived.
Sweltering temperatures in Japan over the summer likely contributed to the lack of snow, as higher-than-average temperatures seeped into September and October.
In addition, high ocean temperatures could be encouraging more precipitation on the island, which is then washing away any snow that does fall in the region, Karen Prestegaard, a geology professor at the University of Maryland, told ABC News.
"So you're not going to get a snow cap developing if you still have a lot of warm water in the atmosphere being driven by a warm ocean," she said.
Climate change could have played a role in the unseasonably warm temperatures that are keeping the snowfall at bay, according to an analysis by Climate Central. The unusual October heat in Japan was made three times more likely because of human-amplified global warming, according to the nonprofit environmental research group
At least 74 Japanese cities recorded temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in the first week of October, according to Climate Central.
The average maximum temperature between June and September on Mount Fuji has risen from about 6 degrees Celsius -- or about 43 degrees Fahrenheit -- to almost 8 degrees Celsius, or about 46 degrees Fahrenheit, Andrew Bernstein, a professor of history at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, told ABC News.
"The atmosphere at the summit has definitely warmed considerably since 1970," said Bernstein, who has been researching the history of Mount Fuji for more than a decade.
New research suggests that climate change has reduced snowpacks in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere in the last 40 years, according to a study published in Nature earlier this year.
Snowpacks are retreating to higher and higher elevations on mountains due to global warming, said Prestegaard, who has researched the impact of global warming on snowpacks.
Other famed peaks and mountain ranges, such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Andes mountains in South America are losing their snowpacks at extraordinary rates, she said.
"As we see with global warming around the world, it's in high alpine regions and also closer to the poles that we see the most dramatic effects," Bernstein said.
Mount Fuji, listed on the World Heritage List within the last decade, is a bucket list destination among the climbing community as well as locals, who can see the peak from Tokyo about 90 miles away on a clear day.
In ancient Japanese poetry, writers would marvel at how the top of Mount Fuji could be topped in snow in the middle of summer, Bernstein said.
"Over the centuries, Fuji has been seen as the symbol of continuity, in many ways, for Japan," he said, adding that it must be "disconcerting" for residents to see the peak without snow at this time of year.
While Mount Fuji is covered in snow for most of the year, during the hiking season, between July and September, the rocky peak is typically bare.
The volcano has not erupted in more than 300 years. The last recorded eruption occurred on Dec. 16, 1707.
While snowpack is not on the horizon in the immediate future, it will appear by the end of the year, Prestegaard said.
"Eventually, I'm sure they will get more snow on Fuji this year," Prestegaard said.
