Winter Temperatures and Average Snowfall

For inland regions （Morioka: Climate Data from 1981-2010, Japan Meteorological Agency）

• Morioka:Climate Data from 1981-2010（外部リンク）

	December	January	February	March
Avg. high temps （C°）	4.6	1.8	2.9	7.0
Avg. low temps （C°）	-2.4	-5.6	-5.2	-2.2
Snowfall （cm）	53	85	74	46

For southern coastal regions （Ofunato: Climate Data from 1981-2010, Japan Meteorological Agency）

• Ofunato:Climate Data from 1981-2010（外部リンク）

	December	January	February	March
Avg. high temps （C°）	7.5	4.5	5.0	8.3
Avg. low temps （C°）	-0.1	-2.7	-2.6	-0.4
Snowfall （cm）	11	19	23	13

For northern coastal regions （Miyako: Climate Data from 1981-2010, Japan Meteorological Agency）

• Miyako:Climate Data from 1981-2010（外部リンク）

	December	January	February	March
Avg. high temps （C°）	7.8	4.9	5.1	8.3
Avg. low temps （C°）	1.2	-3.8	-3.8	-1.1
Snowfall （cm）	16	33	55	40

As you can see, inland Iwate gets a sizeable amount of snow and possesses below freezing temperatures for most of the winter. Average daily highs are above freezing, which means that much of the snow starts to melt during the day, but ices over when the temperature dips below freezing at night. A lot of the snowfall sticks around for the whole winter in this way. Let’s put it this way: you must be prepared for a lot of ice and snow.

However, the coastal regions don’t tend to get a lot of snow. Where you live will largely determine the amount of preparation needed for the winter.