File photo shows roofs of houses covered with snow in Tokyo on Feb 2, 2018.
© AFP / Kazuhiro NogiFile photo shows roofs of houses covered with snow in Tokyo on Feb 2, 2018.
Heavy snow, some on a record scale, hitting the Sea of Japan coast is continuing to cause widespread disruption to lives and transportation.

The Meteorological Agency says snow clouds are persisting due to a minus 12 degrees Celsius air mass hovering some 1,500 meters above the region. It says this kind of cold air mass usually comes just once in several years.

As of 1PM Tuesday, 1.58 meters of snowfall had accumulated in Hakusan City, 1.34 meters in Fukui City, and 68 centimeters in Kanazawa City.

In Fukui, the snowfall was the heaviest since 1981 and more than 6 times the average.



Traffic in the region has been paralyzed. Many railway services, except for the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line, remain suspended. Motorways are closed and local roads are clogged as snow removal cannot catch up with falling snow. Almost all flights to and from 2 local airports in the region have been canceled.

Many elementary and junior high schools are closed. Five people were injured overnight on Monday and about 150 households were hit by power outages.

The agency warns that fresh snow of up to 80 centimeters is expected in some parts of the region for 24 hours until Wednesday morning.