Heavy snow disrupts traffic in Japan

A powerful winter storm dumped heavy snow along the
Sea of Japan coast on Thursday, disrupting traffic, the nation's
Meteorological Agency said, warning of possible avalanches, according to dpa.
In the northern prefecture of Akita the severe weather caused the
cancellation of some train services and delayed flights.
As of 9 am (0000 GMT) Thursday, the fresh snowfall pushed the
levels to 275 centimetres in Aomori prefecture in the far north of
the country's main island, 204 centimetres in Tottori in the west,
and 202 centimetres in Niigata, on the coast of the island's centre,
the agency said.
The agency predicted up to another 50 centimetres of snow on the
Sea of Japan coast and in the northern part of the country through
Friday morning.