Weather in Kameoka

(Feb. 6, 2011) With the big snow and blizzard-like conditions we experienced last Tuesday it seemed like a very appropriate time to write about Kameoka’s weather.  I received an e-mail from longtime friend Takeshi Kusuhara who lives in Kameoka a week or so ago and he said it was very cold and there had been snow on the ground most of the time since about Christmas. I don’t know what the temperature was but it rarely falls below about 28 degrees Fahrenheit, however because it’s always very humid the temperatures always feel much colder than they actually are. And because the islands are surrounded by water the temperatures don’t tend to fluctuate much. The climatic conditions are such that along the Sea of Japan coast the average snowfall is the highest in the world at that latitude and we heard that the town of Kumihama where my wife and I  spent a week last November received more than two feet of snow recently.  Kameoka is not too far from the coast and each winter has several significant snowfalls. However, since the temperature is usually just a couple degrees or so below freezing, the snow usually doesn’t last more than two or three days. If the snow has been on the ground most of the time since Christmas, Kameoka must have received several significant snows or the temperatures are indeed colder this winter than during most winters.