Heavy snowfall forecast in regions bordering Sea of Japan
In the 24 hours through 6 p.m. Thursday, the Hokuriku region in the central part of Japan's largest main island of Honshu will likely see snowfall of up to 100 centimeters and the Kinki and Chugoku regions in the country's west may see up to 70 cm of snow, the agency said.
The coastal regions facing the Sea of Japan are expected to see renewed snowfall later in the week as a low pressure system moves eastward over the Japanese archipelago, bringing in a cold air mass, according to the agency.
Other parts of the country including the western and southwestern main islands of Shikoku and Kyushu may also see some snow, the agency said.
The weather agency also predicts winds of up to 126 kilometers per hour for western and southwestern Japan on Wednesday.
It said earlier that the cold air mass approaching this week would be more powerful than the one which brought heavy snow to central Japan earlier in the month and left hundreds of vehicles stranded on an expressway in Niigata Prefecture.
During a five-day period from Wednesday, parts of the regions along the Sea of Japan could see more than twice the amount of average snowfall, the agency has said.