At Daikan, spring is still far away, and snow forecast worries us
January 20 is called “Daikan” in Japan and is considered to be the coldest day of the year. It also means that once it is over, the spring is near. However, there has been a lot of snow in Japan recently, and spring still seems far away.
If you look around the world, we see a lot of abnormal weather like heat waves in south western parts of the U.S. and India, heavy rain in southern part of Thailand and Chinese Yangze River, and cold waves in central Europe through western Russia. They were thought to be caused by global economic activities, El Nino (where the sea-surface temperatures rise), and La Nina (sea-surface temperatures decrease).
For our school, snow fall and snow accumulations are enemies to our academic activities. In fact, since the year end, there have been snow forecast three times in a row, with two of them actually causing moderate snow fall and snow accumulations, forcing us to adjust our schedule. I have heard that these were just the beginning winter activities and the snow here is much heavier.
Looking at the sky reproachfully, we are so looking forward to the spring. 続きを読む…