Heavy snow disrupts Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen Line service on Feb. 7 at Shin-Osaka Station. (Video footage provided by a reader)

Photo/Illutration Pedestrians cross a street in central Kyoto early on Feb. 8. (Yoshiaki Arai)

Record-breaking snowfall across Hokkaido and Sea of Japan coastal areas of Honshu on Feb. 8 brought traffic and train services to a standstill in many areas as even more snow was forecast for the weekend.

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged people in the affected areas to think twice about going anywhere as television footage showed residents struggling to dig out cars buried deep in snow in just hours. 

Authorities said a man in his 70s from Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture, had died and 26 others in eight prefectures were injured in accidents caused by snow that has piled up since Feb. 4.

The figures were as of 10 a.m. on Feb. 8, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency and other government organs.

In the meantime, Tokaido Shinkansen trains were forced to travel at lower speeds in Shiga Prefecture due to heavy snow.

Difficulties in clearing snow along the Yamagata Shinkansen Line in eastern Japan meant that service between Fukushima and Shinjo will remain suspended for the entire day.

Service on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line between Sendai and Morioka was suspended until 7 a.m. or so to allow an inspection of the tracks.

The Yamaguchi river and national road office in western Japan said dozens of cars were stuck along a national road in Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi Prefecture, early on Feb. 8. A section of the road between Yamaguchi and Shimonoseki cities was closed from 1:30 a.m.

A traffic snarl of around five kilometers developed in Sanyo-Onoda. A company contracted by the Yamaguchi office attached chains to stuck cars to pull them out of the jam and spread anti-icing agents on the road. The road was cleared by 9 a.m. and the order to close the road was lifted 45 minutes later.

The JMA said 50 centimeters of snow was recorded in Chuo Ward, Niigata city, for the 24-hour period until 10 a.m. on Feb. 8. The figures for Minakami in Gunma Prefecture and Shobara in Hiroshima Prefecture were 48 cm and 44 cm, respectively.

On Feb. 7, the JMA warned of exceedingly heavy snow for Niigata city and its surrounding area as well as the southern Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture, which was devastated by a magnitude-7.6 earthquake on New Year’s Day in 2024.

Those two areas were hit by a huge amount of snow within a short time frame.

Niigata’s Chuo Ward had a record 50 cm of snow within a 12-hour period until 2 a.m. Feb. 8, while Kaga in Ishikawa Prefecture was blanketed with 16 cm of snow in a 3-hour period until 1 a.m.

Authorities in those areas warned of major traffic disruptions as heavy snow was forecast to continue over a wide area due to a cold air mass that strengthened from the evening of Feb. 7.

More snow was expected along the Sea of Japan coast from the Japan Sea Polar Air Mass Convergence Zone (JPCZ) over the Sea of Japan, which has brought heavy snow in the past.

As much as 80 cm of snow was forecast in the Kanto-Koshin region for the 24-hour period until 6 a.m. on Feb. 9. The figure for the Tohoku, Hokuriku and Kinki regions was 70 cm while the Tokai and Chugoku regions were bracing for 60 cm of snow.

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