The blizzard has come and gone. By the time I went to bed last night, I was still snowing a little bit. But, this morning, the snow was done, and the sky was beginning to clear.

According to the news, by 3pm yesterday, the mountains in Niigata had received the most snowfall at 200 centimeters. Mountainous areas of Nagano, Fukushima, Gunma, and Fukui had received between 150 and 180 centimeters at the most. (Easy conversion: 100 cm = 1 m =~ 1 yard = 3 feet).

Locally, the Hida area and Gujo city received plenty of snow, too. Hida Kawai received 136 centimeters since 3pm yesterday. Shirotori in Gujo got 131, and Shirakawa-go had gotten 125. In Takayama, we got about 120cm, maybe. Meanwhile, Gifu City (in the south) got only 6 centimeters. Unfortunately, within the Hida region and Gujo city limits, about 7770 households are without power, which means they have no heat. Some of the more outlying schools are still closed this morning, too.

After waking up this morning, I peaked outside, and the clouds around Norikura began to clear.

On my way to work, the sun climbed over the mountains, and brightly lit Norikura (above).

I'm in Kiyomi today. Unfortunately, you can't see Norikura from Kiyomi, but you can still view the next northern collection of mountains, Hotaka-dake. Through the day, every hour(ish), I took a quick panoramic view from our 3rd floor windows.

Some of the snow began melting during the sunny day, but the roads were still completely ice on the way home. And the drive on the way home was terrible due to the amount of traffic. Some roads were still blocked from downed trees, which funneled traffic into a single direction. On a clear day in summer, it takes me about 20 minutes (at most) to drive home. It took me an hour and a half today. :/

I did manage to get a shot of Norikura, though.

Update: And then in true fucked up weather fashion, on Saturday and Sunday it rained, which melted only some of the snow and ice, making the roads much much worse to drive on. Though, the main roads are completely free and clear now.