If You Think You've Been Shovelilng A Lot Of Snow Lately, Watch This

A road in the snow belt of northern Japan.
Puts Erie, PA to shame doesn't it?

Here in Vermont, we're off to a typically snowy start to the winter. We're not breaking any records, but we've certainly gotten our share of snow.

Some people are probably sick of shoveling already, and it's only the end of December.

It could be worse. (It could always be worse.)  Just look at Erie, Pa. (63 inches in two days. starting Christmas. And at least another foot today.) Or Redfield, New York, (also 63 inches in two days.)

Even better, there are mountainous areas of northern Japan that get incredible amounts of snow. There are spots in this region that are among the snowiest in the world.  The relatively high elevation town of Tokamachi, for instance, averages 460 inches of snow per year. That's about 38 feet of snow.

For comparison's sake, here in Burlington, Vermont, we average very roughly 80 inches of snow per winter. That's about six and a half feet of snow.

Northern Japan's epic snow is caused by sort of the same phenomenon as the huge lake effect snow squalls common in early and mid-winter near the Great Lakes. The kind that hit Erie and Redfield. But the snow in Japan is much deeper.

Here's why: Cold Siberian winds blow across the Sea of Japan in the winter, picking up moisture just like cold northwest winds draw moisture from the Great Lakes this time of year. But the Great Lakes snow machine shuts down or at least weakens during the course of the winter as the lakes freeze, limiting the ability for moisture to get in the air to produce the snow squalls.

Not photoshop. People walk on a road cleared of deep
snow in drifts in the northern Japan snowbelt. They've
got it worse than the U.S. Great Lakes snow belts 

The Sea of Japan is relatively warm. And big. So it doesn't freeze. The "sea effect snows" go on and on all winter.

On top of that. winter storms ride northeastward along the nearby coastlines in Japan, much like those famous nor'easters in New England. Those Japanese nor'easters also dump huge amounts of snow.

Ski resorts in these snowy Japanese regions attract lots of visitors, as you might imagine. Long term, there are worries that some of these snow belts in Japan could start getting more rain and less snow as  global warming intensifies.

For now, though, it snows like crazy in parts of Japan. Thought you were a hero when you shoveled three feet of snow out of your driveway during a record snowstorm last March in northwestern Vermont?

Hah! Watch these two very fit Japanese men tackle an extremely snow laden roof after an epic snowfall.