Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji has yet to see snow this season, breaking a 130-year record

CNN —

November is just a few days away, but Japan’s iconic Mount Fuji remains snowless, marking the latest date without a snowcap since records began 130 years ago.

The peaks of Japan’s highest mountain are usually dusted in snow by early October, but as of Tuesday the summit has remained bare – raising the alarm of the impacts of the climate crisis on one of the country’s most beloved landmarks.

The first snowfall signals the arrival of winter. It follows the summer climbing season, which this year ended on September 10.

Snowcaps begin to form on average on Fuji on October 2, and last year, it was recorded on October 5, according to Japan’s weather agency – though public broadcaster NHK reported that most of it melted away in early November due to warm temperatures.

Japan’s Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which has announced the first snowfall on Fuji each year since it was established in 1894, has yet to do so this year, citing unseasonably warm weather.

“Because of the fact that high temperatures in Japan have been continuing since the summer and as it has been raining, there has been no snowfall,” Shinichi Yanagi, a meteorological officer at the Kofu office, told CNN Tuesday.

The lack of snow as of October 29, beats the previous record of October 26, set in 1955 and 2016, he said.

Japan recorded its hottest summer on record this year since statistics began in 1898, the Meteorological Agency said in September.

This aerial view shows climbers lining up to take a photo on the Kengamine summit of Mount Fuji on August 10, 2024.

The average temperature from June to August was 1.76 degrees Celsius above the normal level, surpassing the previous record of 1.08 degrees set in 2010, the agency said.

Japan remained