Weather Warnings

The Japan Meteorological Agency's official warnings and advisories for Shirakawa Village — heavy snow, snowstorm, avalanche, heavy rain and landslide — with the wind right now and the road channels to check before driving in.

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Town Tools builds free, public tools for Shirakawa and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Where to check, before and during

JMA — warnings for Shirakawa VillageThe authoritative warning detail, in English, straight from the agency.

SHIRAKAWA-Going — live road camerasThe village's official visitor portal: live cameras on the access roads, parking, congestion forecast and the visiting rules.

Shirakawa Village OfficeVillage notices — closures, the winter-tyre rule, and seasonal guidance.

Get an email when a warning is issued

Official warnings, forwarded the moment the national service issues one for the area — headline and all, in its own words. Nothing in between. No account, one-click unsubscribe.

Worth knowing

Snow country, officially

Shirakawa-mura is designated heavy-snow country, and a heavy snow or snowstorm warning here is a road event as much as a weather one: the village sits behind long expressway tunnels on limited mountain roads, and official guidance requires studless winter tyres from December through March. Cars that set out without them are how the tunnel queues and stranding happen — check the live road cameras before driving in.

A steep valley watches the rain

Ogimachi sits at about 497 m in the narrow Shōkawa valley, under slopes that hold snow half the year. JMA treats landslide as a first-class warning alongside heavy rain — when those advisories rise through the levels in the warm months or the thaw, take them at face value: the terrain here is exactly what they are written for.