Snow Forecast Next Week on Mt Fuji, at Last

A sign with a photo of Mount Fuji covered in snow is seen at a view point as Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres, looms in the background in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A sign with a photo of Mount Fuji covered in snow is seen at a view point as Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres, looms in the background in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
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Snow Forecast Next Week on Mt Fuji, at Last

A sign with a photo of Mount Fuji covered in snow is seen at a view point as Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres, looms in the background in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A sign with a photo of Mount Fuji covered in snow is seen at a view point as Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 metres, looms in the background in Gotemba, Shizuoka prefecture on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)

Japan's Mount Fuji, snowless for the longest since records began 130 years ago, is expected to finally get its famous white cap back next week, a local forecaster said on Thursday.

Snow on average begins forming on Japan's highest mountain on October 2 and the latest it had been detected before this year was in 1955 and 2016, when it fell on October 26.

"Rain is likely to fall temporarily near Mount Fuji on November 6," forecasting website tenki.jp, run by the Japan Weather Association, said on Thursday.

"Cold air will move in and change from rain to snow near the summit," it said. "The weather will gradually clear up, and the first snow on the mountain may be observed on the morning of the 7th."

Another company Weather News also said Wednesday that "the first snowfall is likely to be pushed back to November".

At Lake Kawaguchi, a favorite viewing spot for the volcano, French visitor Hugo Koide told AFP it was "quite shocking to see at this time of year there's no snow."

The 25-year-old, who used to visit the area in autumn in his childhood, said he remembered how Fuji "was always covered by snow."

"I'm rocking up in T-shirt and shorts. It kind of doesn't feel the same," said Australian traveler Jason Le.

"I think that across the globe it is kind of affecting everybody. We're from Australia and what you are seeing is it is getting hotter in the summer months and it's getting colder earlier," he told AFP.

Last year snow was first detected on Fuji on October 5.

Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster in the town of Kofu's meteorological office, told AFP on Monday climate change may play a role in delaying snowfall, with this year being the latest since comparative data became available in 1894.

"Temperatures were high this summer, and these high temperatures continued into September, deterring cold air (bringing snow)," Katsuta told AFP.

Japan's summer this year was the joint hottest on record -- equaling the level seen in 2023 -- as extreme heatwaves fueled by climate change engulfed many parts of the globe.

Warm weather has been affecting other snowy regions across the globe, with many ski resorts increasingly being forced to confront the realities of a warming climate.

In Japan the city of Sapporo in the normally chilly northern island of Hokkaido, has begun discussing scaling down its famous snow festival due to a shortage.



Australian Police Recover 40,000 Stolen ‘Bluey’ Coins

 This photo released by the New South Wales Police shows some of the 40,000 stolen limited edition Bluey coins recovered from a suburb in western Sydney, Monday, Oct. 29, 2024. (New South Wales Police via AP)
This photo released by the New South Wales Police shows some of the 40,000 stolen limited edition Bluey coins recovered from a suburb in western Sydney, Monday, Oct. 29, 2024. (New South Wales Police via AP)
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Australian Police Recover 40,000 Stolen ‘Bluey’ Coins

 This photo released by the New South Wales Police shows some of the 40,000 stolen limited edition Bluey coins recovered from a suburb in western Sydney, Monday, Oct. 29, 2024. (New South Wales Police via AP)
This photo released by the New South Wales Police shows some of the 40,000 stolen limited edition Bluey coins recovered from a suburb in western Sydney, Monday, Oct. 29, 2024. (New South Wales Police via AP)

Australian police said on Wednesday they had recovered more than 40,000 stolen limited-edition coins based on the hit children’s animated series “Bluey.”

The Bluey coins, with a face value of one Australian dollar (65 US cents) each, were found on Tuesday afternoon in a self-storage business in the Sydney suburb of Wentworthville, a police statement said.

Bluey is the name of a blue heeler puppy whose adventures with her cattle dog family living in the Australian city of Brisbane, where the series is produced, have become popular among children around the globe.

The series premiered in Australia in 2018 and began streaming on Disney+ in 2020.

The 40,061 recovered coins were still in the Royal Australian Mint plastic bags that they had been stolen in three months earlier, police said.

Police were notified on July 12 that 63,000 of the yet-to-be-released series of coins produced by the national mint in Canberra had been stolen from a warehouse in the Sydney suburb of Wetherill Park, not far from where the coins were recovered on Tuesday.

Police formed Strike Force Bandit to investigate. Bandit is the name of Bluey’s dad.

Three people have been charged over the theft.

A 27-year-old woman whom police allege drove two accomplices to the July burglary was arrested on Tuesday hours before the coins were recovered.

Two men had earlier been charged over the theft and police were a searching for a fourth suspect.

Police raided a Sydney property on July 31 and recovered 189 of the coins. They discovered the dealer selling them was a legitimate coin collector who had innocently bought them for AU$1.50 (98 US cents) each. He was paid no compensation for the seized coins.

A Royal Australian Mint spokesperson was not available for comment on Wednesday.