James W. Delano, for the NYT
Typically, the juhyo materialize under precise conditions.
Cold, dry westerly winds blow down from Siberia, across the Sea of Japan, and form banks of clouds that drop supercooled water that ices over the conifers found in the northeast of Japan.
When snow falls and thickens over that icy mixture, the trees are transformed into an army of abominable snowmen.
Dating back to the early 20th century, scientists identified juhyo stretching from as far north as Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island, to as far south as Nagano . . .
Researchers have tracked a steady deterioration of the snow monsters — both in the acreage they cover and the length of the season in which they can be seen — because of warming temperatures that melt the snow earlier and at higher elevations.
NYT
In Japan the icy trees
give a view that used to please.
Now the snow and ice retreat,
victims of abnormal heat.
*
Iceland, too, must undergo
glacier melt that is not slow.
Tourists now are forced to trudge
through dirty water and cold sludge.
*
Drought is killing off the corn.
Forest fires make us mourn.
The firs of Zao Onsen presage
a hotter, drier, daunting age.
No comments:
Post a Comment