Japan braces for more snow as death toll hits 83

A woman removes snow from a road in the Niigata prefecture city of Nagaoka, northern Japan on Feb 9, 2012. Northern Japan is bracing for further heavy weather in a winter that has seen up to seven times the average annual snowfall in some parts of the country and claimed at least 83 lives.

TOKYO,February 10,2012 (AFP) - Northern Japan is bracing for more heavy snow on Friday as severe winter weather continues to cause misery across a large part of the country, claiming at least 83 lives so far.

Forecasters predicted that up to 60cm of snow would fall in parts of the northernmost island of Hokkaido and in the north of Japan's main island of Honshu over 24 hours.

In Sukayu, in Aomori prefecture, where the temperature dropped to minus 12.8 deg C on Friday, more than four metres of snow is already lying on the ground, with more forecast.

In Hijiori, in north-western Yamagata prefecture, where the average annual snowfall is 2.6 metres, there is already four metres of snow. 

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