New record achieved for Mt. Fuji and why it matters

Japan's Mount Fuji has finally regained its signature snowcap following a record-breaking period during which its peak remained bare.

This year marked the latest that snow has ever reappeared on Mount Fuji, an active volcano visible on a clear day from Tokyo. On Oct. 29, the 12,000-foot peak broke a 130-year-old record of snow absence, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

That record stretch into November and ended only on Wednesday, when the first snowfall was visible from the southwestern side of the mountain, The Associated Press reported, citing the JMA's Shizuoka branch.

However, the Kofu Local Meteorological Office, which has announced the first snowfall on Mount Fuji every year since records began in 1894, has not been able to verify the accumulation due to clouds blocking their view of the snowcap.

While Mount Fuji is covered in snow for most of the year, during the hiking season -- between July and September -- the rocky peak is typically bare.

Sweltering temperatures in Japan over the summer likely contributed to the lack of snow, as higher-than-average temperatures seeped into September and October, according to the JMA.

Snow begins forming on Mount Fuji around Oct. 2, according to the JMA. In 2023, snow appeared on Oct. 5, records show.

Climate change could have played a role in the unseasonably warm temperatures that are keeping the snowfall at bay, according to an analysis by Climate Central. The unusual October heat in Japan was made three times more likely because of human-amplified global warming, according to the nonprofit environmental research group.

At least 74 Japanese cities recorded temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher in the first week of October, according to Climate Central.

In addition, high ocean temperatures encouraged more precipitation on the island, which then washed away any snow that does fall in the region, Karen Prestegaard, a geology professor at the University of Maryland, told ABC News last week.

Research suggests that climate change has reduced snowpacks in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere in the last 40 years, according to a study published earlier this year in Nature.

Snowpacks are retreating to higher and higher elevations on mountains due to global warming, said Prestegaard, who has researched the impact of global warming on snowpacks.

Other famed peaks and mountain ranges, such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Andes mountains in South America are losing their snowpacks at extraordinary rates, she said.

Mount Fuji, a World Heritage Site, has not erupted in more than 300 years. The last recorded eruption occurred on Dec. 16, 1707.