Winter precipitation · Ishikawa and Tokyo

How much wetter is Kanazawa than Tokyo in January?

How much more precipitation does Kanazawa get than Tokyo in winter? January normals from the Japan Meteorological Agency put a number on the contrast.

About 4.3 times as much in Kanazawa

For 1991–2020, the January precipitation normal is 256.0 mm at Kanazawa and 59.7 mm at Tokyo. Kanazawa's figure is about 4.3 times Tokyo's, a difference of 196.3 mm. These are city station values, not prefecture-wide totals.

Precipitation is not snow depth

Precipitation measures water from rain, snow and other forms. Kanazawa's 256.0 mm cannot be read as the depth of snow lying on the ground. The agency lists precipitation, snowfall and snow depth separately.

Tokyo gets about 3.1 times as much sunshine

The same table gives 62.3 hours of January sunshine in Kanazawa and 192.6 hours in Tokyo, roughly 3.1 times as much in Tokyo. Together, precipitation and sunshine give a fuller picture of the winter contrast. Monthly normals still cannot tell you the weather on a travel date.

How to read the evidence. January 1991–2020 station normals for Kanazawa and Tokyo. Precipitation is not snow depth; the ratio is calculated from published figures.

Sources and related data