Travel nightmare after powerhouse snowstorm strands vehicles for days
By
Mary Gilbert, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Dec 20, 2020 8:44 PM EDT
As parts of Japan were blanketed with heavy snow, around 1,000 vehicles were stranded on a highway in the prefecture of Niigata.
A hard-hitting storm system unleashed a multi-day heavy snow event across portions of Japan last week, leaving some prefectures covered in daunting amounts of snow, and thousands of motorists stuck in an enormous traffic jam.
Beginning last Monday and continuing for much of the week, rounds of heavy snow and very cold conditions targeted portions of western and northern Honshu. Prefectures along the Sea of Japan experienced the heaviest snow as abundant moisture flowed inland and met very cold air.
One such prefecture hit especially hard was Niigata, located along the Sea of Japan.
Infrared satellite imagery shows heavy snow falling across portions of western Honshu on Wednesday night. (CIRA/RAMMB)
In Niigata, the city of Tsunan received 37 inches of snow from Monday to Tuesday. Of that snowfall total, 26 inches fell over the course of just 18 hours. Another round of heavy snow took aim at the region on Wednesday evening and led to major traffic issues.
Heavy snow caused a massive traffic jam on a section of the Kanetsu Expressway, an expressway that connects Tokyo to the Niigata Prefecture. This traffic jam began on Wednesday evening in Niigata when a tractor-trailer got stuck in rapidly accumulating snowfall. Vehicles that were forced to stop behind the stranded truck quickly found themselves trapped as well as heavy snow quickly overwhelmed the region.
According to the operator of the expressway, the East Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO East), during the peak of the gridlock on Thursday, traffic stretched up to 10 miles from the point of the incident and involved as many as 2,100 vehicles. Many vehicles stranded overnight Wednesday and Thursday remained stuck through Friday afternoon.
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Crews were dispatched to provide food, fuel, blankets and portable toilets to the motorists trapped on the expressway, Japan Today reported.
People were forced to spend hours in their cars, and some had to be evacuated to hospitals due to the inhospitable conditions outside, Kyodo News reported.
Vehicles are stranded on the snow-covered Kanetsu Expressway in Minamiuonuma in Niigata Prefecture, Japan December 18, 2020. (Photo/Kyodo via Reuters)
As crews worked to free the stranded motorists, they did so amid brutal cold with sub-freezing temperatures reported in the area.
NEXCO East issued a statement on Friday morning that less than 100 cars had yet to be freed from the snow. A correction, and an apology, was quickly issued by the operators as it turned out their count was off by about 900 vehicles.
"On the [line bound for Tokyo], when we checked the site again, about 1,000 stagnant vehicles were confirmed ... [we] apologize for the inadequate understanding of the situation and the confusion caused to our customers," said NEXCO East in a press release on Friday afternoon.
One thousand vehicles remained stranded as of Friday morning.
Aerial footage from the scene showed a line of stranded vehicles stretching back possibly a mile or more. One man was seen in news footage saying there was nothing to eat or drink for the extended period of time he was stranded. "I was really in trouble," he said, according to the BBC. "I had to eat snow."
The effort to free vehicles trapped in the heavy snow involved the use of heavy machinery and also an abundance of physical labor. Workers could be seen digging vehicles out one-by-one with shovels.
By Friday afternoon, local time, 670 vehicles remained trapped, Kyodo News reported.
Heavy snow continued to fall across portions of Japan on Friday, but crews working to free trapped vehicles were able to make significant progress.
The last of the stranded vehicles on the Kanetsu Expressway was finally freed from the snow at 10:15 p.m. JST Friday, according to NEXCO East. The company also confirmed that a significant portion of the expressway remained closed overnight Friday as crews worked to remove all remaining snow.
The Kanetsu Expressway was not the only roadway in the area that encountered significant gridlock due to heavy snow this week. The Joshinetsu Expressway, located just to the west of the Kanetsu Expressway, was similarly impacted by heavy snow. Around 300 vehicles were stranded on the expressway from Wednesday to Thursday morning.
As the system that triggered this multi-day snow event weakens and pushes east early this week, dry weather will return to much of the country for the middle of the week.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Winter Weather
Travel nightmare after powerhouse snowstorm strands vehicles for days
By Mary Gilbert, AccuWeather meteorologist
Updated Dec 20, 2020 8:44 PM EDT
As parts of Japan were blanketed with heavy snow, around 1,000 vehicles were stranded on a highway in the prefecture of Niigata.
A hard-hitting storm system unleashed a multi-day heavy snow event across portions of Japan last week, leaving some prefectures covered in daunting amounts of snow, and thousands of motorists stuck in an enormous traffic jam.
Beginning last Monday and continuing for much of the week, rounds of heavy snow and very cold conditions targeted portions of western and northern Honshu. Prefectures along the Sea of Japan experienced the heaviest snow as abundant moisture flowed inland and met very cold air.
One such prefecture hit especially hard was Niigata, located along the Sea of Japan.
Infrared satellite imagery shows heavy snow falling across portions of western Honshu on Wednesday night. (CIRA/RAMMB)
In Niigata, the city of Tsunan received 37 inches of snow from Monday to Tuesday. Of that snowfall total, 26 inches fell over the course of just 18 hours. Another round of heavy snow took aim at the region on Wednesday evening and led to major traffic issues.
Heavy snow caused a massive traffic jam on a section of the Kanetsu Expressway, an expressway that connects Tokyo to the Niigata Prefecture. This traffic jam began on Wednesday evening in Niigata when a tractor-trailer got stuck in rapidly accumulating snowfall. Vehicles that were forced to stop behind the stranded truck quickly found themselves trapped as well as heavy snow quickly overwhelmed the region.
According to the operator of the expressway, the East Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO East), during the peak of the gridlock on Thursday, traffic stretched up to 10 miles from the point of the incident and involved as many as 2,100 vehicles. Many vehicles stranded overnight Wednesday and Thursday remained stuck through Friday afternoon.
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Crews were dispatched to provide food, fuel, blankets and portable toilets to the motorists trapped on the expressway, Japan Today reported.
People were forced to spend hours in their cars, and some had to be evacuated to hospitals due to the inhospitable conditions outside, Kyodo News reported.
Vehicles are stranded on the snow-covered Kanetsu Expressway in Minamiuonuma in Niigata Prefecture, Japan December 18, 2020. (Photo/Kyodo via Reuters)
As crews worked to free the stranded motorists, they did so amid brutal cold with sub-freezing temperatures reported in the area.
NEXCO East issued a statement on Friday morning that less than 100 cars had yet to be freed from the snow. A correction, and an apology, was quickly issued by the operators as it turned out their count was off by about 900 vehicles.
"On the [line bound for Tokyo], when we checked the site again, about 1,000 stagnant vehicles were confirmed ... [we] apologize for the inadequate understanding of the situation and the confusion caused to our customers," said NEXCO East in a press release on Friday afternoon.
One thousand vehicles remained stranded as of Friday morning.
Aerial footage from the scene showed a line of stranded vehicles stretching back possibly a mile or more. One man was seen in news footage saying there was nothing to eat or drink for the extended period of time he was stranded. "I was really in trouble," he said, according to the BBC. "I had to eat snow."
The effort to free vehicles trapped in the heavy snow involved the use of heavy machinery and also an abundance of physical labor. Workers could be seen digging vehicles out one-by-one with shovels.
By Friday afternoon, local time, 670 vehicles remained trapped, Kyodo News reported.
Heavy snow continued to fall across portions of Japan on Friday, but crews working to free trapped vehicles were able to make significant progress.
Related:
The last of the stranded vehicles on the Kanetsu Expressway was finally freed from the snow at 10:15 p.m. JST Friday, according to NEXCO East. The company also confirmed that a significant portion of the expressway remained closed overnight Friday as crews worked to remove all remaining snow.
The Kanetsu Expressway was not the only roadway in the area that encountered significant gridlock due to heavy snow this week. The Joshinetsu Expressway, located just to the west of the Kanetsu Expressway, was similarly impacted by heavy snow. Around 300 vehicles were stranded on the expressway from Wednesday to Thursday morning.
As the system that triggered this multi-day snow event weakens and pushes east early this week, dry weather will return to much of the country for the middle of the week.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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