On January 6, many parts of Japan's Kanto region were overcast, and from the afternoon, Tokyo, located in the Kanto region of Japan, even began to drift snow, which was the first snow in Tokyo in 2022. The snow came so dramatically that by late afternoon, snow began to appear noticeably in many parts of Tokyo, and The 23rd ward of Tokyo, Japan, issued its first heavy snow warning since January 22, 2018.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency monitoring data, Tokyo Station in Chiyoda Ward began to record snowfall from the afternoon of January 6, local time, and then began to accumulate snow, and by the evening of January 6, local time, the maximum depth reached 10 centimeters, bringing a strong winter atmosphere, this snowfall is one of the few times since the new century Tokyo snow depth of more than 10 centimeters, but also the depth of the snow depth before January. Temperatures in Tokyo also dropped rapidly during the snowfall, with a maximum temperature of 2.6 degrees Celsius on January 6, the lowest daily temperature since January 3, 2003.
Although the latitude of Tokyo is 35 degrees north latitude, but because of a series of factors such as terrain and ocean currents, the temperature in winter will be higher than other areas at the same latitude, although snow in winter is not uncommon, but heavy snow is indeed relatively rare, and snowfall like this that reaches more than 10 centimeters, in fact, there are only a few times in the history of meteorological observation in this century - Japan Meteorological Agency data show that in addition to the snow depth of January 22, 2018 reached 23 centimeters in this century, Tokyo in January only has the largest snow this year. It is indeed a rare heavy snow of the same period.
The main cause of this snow is an extratropical cyclone. On the afternoon of January 6, a huge cloud system was sweeping across Japan's Kanto region and the sea south of the high-definition visible satellite, a developing extratropical cyclone. Temperate cyclones not only have cold air pouring at high latitudes, but also induce water vapor at sea to collide with them, eventually creating snowfall in places like Tokyo, Japan. While the arrival of snowfall brings a winter atmosphere, the problem of road icing after snow also brings inconvenience. According to the Tokyo Fire Agency, after the heavy snow on January 6, 215 local people have been taken to the hospital for head and waist injuries caused by ice and snow slips.
Then there are also netizens to ask: Is the rare blizzard in Tokyo a precursor to the earthquake? Although Tokyo is typical of the urban heat island, snow is not a fantasy, and historically, the maximum snow depth in Tokyo has reached 46 centimeters. The prototype of the temperate cyclone that caused the Tokyo blizzard is actually the previous system that created a wide range of rain and snow weather in the central and eastern parts of China, and the snowfall in Henan and other places is also related to it. Temperate cyclones are a common weather phenomenon, and the recent blizzards in Washington, D.C., usa, in the Western Hemisphere, were also caused by the effects of an extratropical cyclone, and no significant link was found between this weather phenomenon and earthquakes.