One of my readers has just reminded me that mountains of snow are piling up across coastal areas of north western Japan. There has been a prolonged spell of intensely cold northwesterlies flowing down off the Russian mainland and across the sea of Japan. The continuous convection this produces (the same process that causes lake-effect snow) caused by this unstable combination of very cold air and warm sea temperatures, has produced over 2 metres of snow in some places. At a glance I could only find a 60 cm report in this mornings 09 UTC SYNOPs.
