Mount Fuji snowless in November for first time in recorded history

When you think of Japan's iconic Mount Fuji, you probably think of it with its winter snowcap. It's not there in summer—and for the first time in 130 years of recorded history, it remains bare into November.

The peaks of Japan's highest mountain are usually dusted in snow by early October, but as of Tuesday the summit has remained bare – raising the alarm of the impacts of the climate crisis on one of the country's most beloved landmarks.

The first snowfall signals the arrival of winter. It follows the summer climbing season, which this year ended on September 10.

Snowcaps begin to form on average on Fuji on October 2, and last year, it was recorded on October 5

It is also Japan's hottest year on record, according to the country's meteorological agency—and the world's, according to the rest of them.

Japan's extreme summer heat was not a local event. This summer broke global heat records for a second straight year, with 2024 firmly on track to be the hottest year in recorded history.

Previously:
• I'm suing the U.S. government for causing the climate change crisis #YouthVGov
• What happens when climate change ravages graveyards?
• A free book of science fiction from around the world about climate change, introduced by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Climate change is spreading radiation from Chernobyl over 2,000 miles away