This is a record of the sea of clouds on October 25, 2021.
Matsunoyama in Tokamachi, where I live now, is a mountainous area surrounded by mountains, and is very suitable for seeing a sea of clouds. I was fortunate enough to see the sea of clouds again this time, so I will record it here.
As a refresher, let's take a look back at the conditions under which you can see a sea of clouds. The conditions for a sea of clouds are as follow:
- Pre-dawn to early morning
- Clear skies during the night
- High humidity
- No wind
- Mountainous areas and basins.
It is easy to see the sea of clouds when the following conditions exist. For more details, see here.
-
-
Unkai in Japan: How Are Sea of Clouds Formed?
There are many spots where you can see a sea of clouds in Japan. In this article, we will look at the mechanism of sea of clouds and when they are most likely to occur. What is unkai (sea of clouds)? A sea of clouds is a cloud that is relatively uniform in height when viewed from above and can be likened to an ocean in appearance. a sea of clouds is called Unkai (雲海 : 雲 = clouds / 海 = Sea) in Japanese. The "International Cloud Atlas" published by the World Meteorological Organization classifies clouds into ten types, ...
続きを見る
It rained a little on the 24th and it cooled down to almost 6 degrees on the morning of the 25th making for good conditions for Unkai.
Last time I was able to see the sea of clouds at Mt Taisho. At 7:30am, the sky turned blue and I could see the sea of clouds in the blue sky.
-
-
Unkai Records Vol. 2 : Sea of Clouds in Tokamachi, Japan
This is a record of the sea of clouds on October 18, 2021. Matsunoyama in Tokamachi, where I live now, is a mountainous area surrounded by mountains, and is very suitable for seeing a sea of clouds. I was fortunate enough to see the sea of clouds again this time, so I will record it here. As a refresher, let's take a look back at the conditions under which you can see a sea of clouds. The conditions for a sea of clouds are as follow: Pre-dawn to early morning Clear skies during the night High humidity No wind Mountainous ...
続きを見る
This time, I headed to the top of Mt Taisho at around 6:00 a.m. aiming to see the sea of clouds illuminated by the rising sun. The sun was just starting to rise when I arrived, it was beautiful.
I was also able to see the sea of clouds. The sea of clouds with the orange sky gives me a different atmosphere.
I looked around and saw that there was snow on the top of the mountain. This was the first time I've seen snow in the 21-22 season. It's already starting to snow on the mountain. The day when it snows in the satoyama will soon come.
The period from around October 23 to November 6 is called "Souko (霜降/First Frost)" in the 24 solar terms in Japan, which refers to the time when frost falls in mountain villages. This is the time when the mornings and evenings become even colder and autumn leaves become more vivid. I can feel the surroundings slowly changing to winter.
From my previous experience, I knew that there would be quite a bit of Unkai left until about 7:30. I decided to go to another spot from Mt Taisho. Next, I decided to go to "Hoshitoge terraced rice field", which is famous in Tokamachi as a sea of clouds spot. I arrived there just before 7:00. It was 7:00 when this photo was taken, and the fog had lessened considerably. However, the water in the terraced rice fields reflected the sky and was very beautiful.
It seems to be a characteristic of rice fields in snow country that water is pooled at this time of the year. In Japan, when rice is cultivated, the fields are filled with water, the soil is cultivated, and then carefully stirred to level the surface of the soil. This is called "Shirokaki". This work is usually done in the spring before rice planting. However rice fields are often covered with snow even in the spring in heavy snowfall areas. This is why some farmers do this work in autumn.
The scenery was beautiful, and it was also a wonderful glimpse into the wisdom of the snow country.
