--- title: "Mount Fuji Snowless For Longest Time In 130 Years" description: "For the first time in recorded history, Mount Fuji has gone the entire month of October without seeing any snow." date: "2024-11-01" modified: "2024-11-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mt-fuji-snowless-longest-history" categories: - "Climate Change" - "Environment" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "climate change" - "extreme heat" - "the digest" --- # Mount Fuji Snowless For Longest Time In 130 Years ![For the first time in recorded history, Mount Fuji has gone the entire month of October without seeing any snow.]() *\Image: Tomohiro Ohsumi via Getty\* ## Mounting Doom Don't panic, but Japan's Mount Fuji has officially gone all of October without any snow, [*CNN* reports](), making it the longest period — and counting! — that the mountain has been snowless since records began 130 years ago. Typically, Mount Fuji's peak should've already been donning its iconic snowcap for weeks by now. On average, the mountain, which is the tallest in Japan, begins to form snowcaps on October 2, and last year, it started on October 5. But as of November 1 — or November 2 in Japan, which is ahead of us — it's still bare. Prior to this season, the latest recorded snowfall occurred on October 29, in 1955 and 2016. "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," Japan Meteorological Agency officer Shinichi Yanagi told *CNN*. ## Better Late A chilly silver lining: the meteorological agency finally has snow on the forecast, [the *Agence France-Presse* reports]() — but the date will still be alarmingly late. "Rain is likely to fall temporarily near Mount Fuji on November 6," the Japan Weather Association said Thursday, per the *AFP*. "Cold air will move in and change from rain to snow near the summit," it added. "The weather will gradually clear up, and the first snow on the mountain may be observed on the morning of the 7th." If the forecast holds up, that means the record will be surpassed by a full nine days. Hard to chalk that one up to a rounding error. ## Obvious Culprit And there's no mystery to it, folks. The cause for the delayed snows — and a desacralizing of a winter season landmark — is almost certainly climate change. This summer was [Japan's hottest in history]() for the second year in a row, with average temperatures over three degrees Fahrenheit higher than the average between 1991 and 2020. And as *CNN* notes, this trend persisted into the fall, with Japan experiencing its [second-hottest September on record]() — behind only last year's. October wasn't spared hot climes either, as evidenced by the snowless Mt. Fuji, with an [analysis from the research group Climate Central]() determining that human-driven climate change made the season's unusual heat three times as likely. So count your blessings: the snows may be late this year, but [they could be gone another](). **More on climate change:** *[Scientists Propose Shooting $200 Trillion Worth of Pulverized Diamonds Into Atmosphere]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()