Weather in Takayama (Japanese Alps)

[Nick Sevarg]

I've been living in the historical city of Takayama, Japan for the past 3 months and I thought it would be interesting to share a little information about this place.

It lies at around 600m above sea level at about 36°N in central Japan.

As far as its weather goes, it is typically humid continental featuring both hot summers and cold winters, much like the east and northeast coast of US but a little more warmer, humid and wet.

July through to August is typically 30°C during the daytime and cooler at night with an average 20°C minimum. (Night time is comparatively cool here compared to coastal Japan)

During the winter, lake effect snow is in operation much of the time as cold air rushes from the continent over the Sea of Japan and generates some phenomenal amounts of snowfall on this side of Japan all the way from central to northern Japan and Hokkaido.

Takayama itself boasts over 5 metres of falling snow and up to 10 metres in the outskirts such as 'Shirakawa', (cars without snow chains are actually banned from major roads and highways)

Some Information and Webcams:

Wikipedia Takayama: http://en.wikipedia..../Takayama,_Gifu

Wikipedia Shirakawa: http://en.wikipedia...._Gifu_(village)

Traffic Cams (Red and Green): https://www2.cbr.mli...cctv_index.html

Controllable Webcam (City View): http://www.takayama-...livecamera.html

Shirakawa Village: http://shirakawa-go.org/livecam/

Typical weather in Summer: http://weather.yahoo...html?c=2011&m=7

Typical weather in Winter: http://weather.yahoo...html?c=2012&m=1

(I assume these aren't 100% correct, the weather conditions predominantly)

Regional Snow Depths: http://tenki.jp/amed...medas_type=snow

As for the weather today it's been pretty cold, about 8 inches of snow fell yesterday night. Today, just a few scattered snow showers with a minimum of -7°C and maximum of -1°C

According to the weather forecast it is due to warm up a little next week!

Edited December 11, 2012 by Nick Sevarg

[Styx]

^ A great read. How long are you there for?

Shirakawa village looks preety special.

Some of the snow scenes in your area, ( had a google image search ), look absolutley phenomenal..other worldly...the forest snowmonsters!

[Aaron]

Japanese snow depths are insane!