Japan's Hardy Snow Country Now Faces a Test of Time

New York Times ^ | 1/9/06 | Norimitsu Onishi

[skinkinthegrass]

We used to joke that it was faster to go over a house than around it.

ha! ha! ...depending how old you are (skilled in) skiing and/or ski-doo (jump-over.)

[Vigilanteman]

I spent a winter in Sakata on the Sea of Japan, 1977-78. No, the snow wasn't quite this extreme, but take a train 30 km or so inland and you could see the piles heaped up perhaps half the size of those shown in the pictures.

Part of the reason the snow piles up is the pattern of thawing and freezing continuously recyles moisture into the atmosphere. On some of the main streets of Sakata, nozzles at periodic intervals sprayed water to keep the roads cleared. They stopped when the weather was well below freezing, but the timing wasn't always perfect. There would be nights we would go home on sheets of ice.

[gaijin]

maybe the young ones now won't so easily be able to get to the local pachinko-ya san. For awhile, I guess...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We owned an eight horsepower two-stage snowblower when we lived in Minnesota. It was powerful enough to throw the snow on my next door neighbor's roof.