© Peter Enyeart / FlickrOtaru under snow on the island of Hokkaido, Japan
With a bitterly cold air mass in place above the Japanese archipelago, heavy snow fell and strong winds blew in Sea of Japan coastal areas from the central to southwestern regions on Sunday, disrupting air and land traffic.
The first snowfall in almost 115 years was recorded on Amami-Oshima island, a subtropical island located some 380 km (235 miles) southwest of the city of Kagoshima,
while temperatures fell to record lows in western and southern Japan.In usually warm Naha in subtropical Okinawa Prefecture, temperatures plummeted to 8.9 degrees Sunday morning, far below January's average low. The temperature in the town of Kunigami, in the north of the main island, it dropped to a record-low 4.2 degrees Celsius at 6 p.m.
The Meteorological Agency called for vigilance against strong winds and high waves across much of the country as well as heavy snow and snowstorms in the Hokuriku region and in western Japan through Monday.
Comment: Earlier last week heavy snowfall caused transport chaos in Japan injuring 250 people.