Operation, Expansion, and Improvement of the Snow Load Alert System “YukioroSignal”

Abstract

The “YukioroSignal” system, which provides snow load alerts, was developed to inform decision-making regarding snow removal from house roofs. It was launched in Niigata Prefecture in 2018 and expanded to cover all special heavy snowfall areas in Japan, including the Hokkaido, Tohoku, and Hokuriku regions in 2024. The system uses the SNOWPACK model to estimate high-accuracy snow weight from real-time snow depth data published online at observation points. At locations where snow depth gauges are not installed, such as in mountainous areas, snow weight is estimated using inverse distance-weighted interpolation, but accuracy is reduced. To overcome this problem, this study attempted to integrate this information with the snow water equivalent distribution calculated using the simple-layer snow distribution model. To validate this improvement, manual observations of snow weight were performed at 98 sites and compared with simulation results. The accuracy of snow weight estimation at distances far away from snow depth stations was improved. The six-year operation of YukioroSignal showed the additional required information that is vulnerable to damage even with less snowfall, such as vacant houses, and caution of changes in hazard levels by an increase in snowburst in a short period.