Mount Fuji is still snowless, making it the latest time in the year that the picturesque mountaintop has been bare since records began over a century ago. 

The snow on Mount Fuji’s peak melts in the summertime but typically returns in early October when temperatures start to drop. On average, the volcano’s snowcap begins forming on October 2. 

However, as of October 28, no snowfall had been observed on Japan’s highest mountain due to lingering warm temperatures, according to AFP.

Yutaka Katsuta, a forecaster at Kofu Local Meteorological Office, told the news agency that it was the latest date of no snowcap since records began in 1894. They added that the previous record was October 26, seen twice in 1955 and again in 2016.

Mount Fuji, the tallest peak in Japan with a height of 3,776 meters (12,389 feet), is an active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707. Known as the Hōei eruption, the volcano spewed a flurry of ash and rock from a newly formed vent on its southeastern flank. The last eruption from the actual summit of Mount Fuji was around 2,300 years ago.

While its celebrated snow should return soon (hopefully), it’s making a sluggish comeback this year because of a few factors.

Japan has just come out of its joint hottest summer on record, tied with 2023’s summer. As per the Japan Meteorological Agency, the average temperature between June to August 2024 was 1.76°C (3.16°F) higher than the average recorded between 1991 and 2020. Autumn has now arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, but warm temperatures are continuing to lurk around Japan and elsewhere.

Although it’s reductive to directly attribute climate change to a single event, the absence of snowfall on Mount Fuji closely aligns with recent observations about our warming world. 

A study published in the journal Nature earlier this year found that human-driven climate change has caused declines in snowpack in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere over the last 40 years. Along with killing off ski resorts, the startling level of snow loss poses a risk to water resources across large parts of North America and Eurasia.