NEMURO, Hokkaido -- The year's first observation of ice floes visible from land with the naked eye was announced off the Hokkaido port of Nemuro on Friday, 24 days later than last year and the fourth-latest day recorded since 1946.
Since 2011, the city government and tourism association have tracked the phenomenon in cooperation with former employees of the Japan Meteorological Agency, because the meteorological observatory's Nemuro weather station was abolished.
The Wakkanai Local Meteorological Office, also in the prefecture, announced the first observable day of the ice floes the same day. However, this was the area's first spotting in two years and was 21 days later than in a typical year.
The region's atmospheric pressure pattern in winter features easterly winds, bringing the floating ice closer to Wakkanai. Currently, the ice is within 10 kilometers of the observatory and in some places, it reached land.
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