Last week on Thursday in Takayama, it "technically" snowed for the first time this season. I say, "technically," because it was really more like rain that froze into ice and hail before it hit the ground and then immediately melted. I was outside playing tag with the 2nd graders at the time, too. It was certainly not snow. After lunch, the hail started picking up a little bit, but nothing stayed solid on the ground for more than a second or two. Other more remote, and colder regions of Takayama experienced actual snow. But, in similar fashion, it almost immediately melted as it reached the ground.
Though, for the more highborn mountainous unpopulated areas of Takayama, this was another day of November snow to begin the winter season.
When driving home on Sunday, I took a right turn and standing before me was a scene that looked like a painting in some guy's hunting lodge. The white capped peaks of Mt. Norikura. For the past few weeks, there hasn't been a lot of sun. It has rained several times in Takayama. But whenever there's rain down here, there's snow all the way up there.
This was on Sunday.
2 weeks prior, I was at the Norikura Sports Complex for Kendo related events. When we arrived at the complex, the digital sign on the side of the building proudly declared it was 0 degrees outside. (0 Celsius) It didn't really feel all that cold outside, either.
Throughout the day, the temperature did not rise as I figured it would. Slowly and surely the cold began to set in, and things were no longer as comfortable as I figured they would be. Inside the building, the air system turned on, and began pumping heat through the vents. We looked outside for a quick peak, and it was very lightly snowing. :) This was the actual first snow I saw for this season.
The next day, when driving back to town from Kiyomi, it had indeed snowed much more than what I saw up there. This was the first day that Norikura showed it's snowcapped peaks for this season.
