The January 2013 Northwest Pacific cyclone was a powerful extratropical cyclone which caused heavy rainfall and a severe blizzard in Japan in January 2013. Forming northeast of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

on January 13 and absorbing Tropical Depression Bising soon afterward, the storm quickly intensified in the southern sea off Japan on January 14, and reached its peak intensity east of Japan on January 15, with its central atmospheric pressure decreasing to . The system then weakened, crossed the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and w ...

late on January 18, and dissipated east of

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

on January 21.

Meteorological history

At 0000 UTC on January 13, an extratropical cyclone formed northeast of

, and the

Japan Meteorological Agency The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...

(JMA) started to issue storm warnings on the developing low; 18 hours later, the storm southeast of Kyushu absorbed Tropical Depression Bising which formed near the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Fed by the remnants of the tropical depression's huge amounts of heat and vapor, the storm quickly intensified and became a

hurricane-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...

bomb cyclone when it passed over the sea south of Japan on January 14. Late the same day, the estimated 10-minute maximum sustained winds reached when the storm was east of the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

. On January 15, the atmospheric pressure of the powerful extratropical cyclone far east of

decreased to , which is equivalent to a very strong typhoon. Northwest Pacific bomb cyclone 2013-01-16

At 0000 UTC on January 16, the extratropical cyclone started to weaken, and the storm was no longer producing sustained

hurricane-force winds The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufort ...

. A half of day later, the estimated 10-minute maximum sustained winds weakened to when the system was located southeast of the

, whilst the atmospheric pressure also decreased to . The storm turned westerly on January 17, and it became

gale-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...

at 00Z on January 18. Late on January 18, the center crossed the southernmost point of the Kamchatka Peninsula and arrived at the Sea of Okhotsk, when the atmospheric pressure was . The low turned southwesterly then southerly, and it passed through the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

on January 20. The system finally dissipated to the far east of

on January 21.

Impact

Japan

The powerful extratropical cyclone which passed over the sea south of Japan caused heavy rainfall and snowfall in the country on January 14. In

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, the blizzard dumped of snow in nine hours. It also left of snow in the neighboring city

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

and of snow in mountainous areas around Tokyo. About 1600 injuries were recorded in Japan. In Shiojiri, a 71-year-old man died after falling into an open drain as he cleared snow around his house. A large chunk of frozen snow fell from the

Tokyo Skytree is a broadcasting and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010Coming of Age Day is a public holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday of January. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have reached or will reach the age of maturity (20 years old) between April 2 of the previous year an ...

in 2013, many young Japanese people who were celebrating their 20th year had to walk through heavy snowfall to attend Coming of Age Day ceremonies.

References

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External links

WIS Portal – GISC Tokyo
2013 Northwest Climate of Japan 2013 in Japan 2013 meteorology 2013 natural disasters Weather events in Asia Weather events in Oceania 2013 in Oceania 2013 in Asia

Meteorological history

Impact

Japan

See also

References

External links