that's when we get a thunderstorm mixed in with the snowstorms in parts of niigata niigata prefecture too. it's an increased amount of instability out there. a woman was killed after snow slid off the roof and killed her. definitely a lot of hazards with this. more snow is in the forecast. off to 90 centimeters back toward the north. earlier this week we had a warm spell across parts of japan. avalanche risk is another threat. heavy snowfall over a meter in some places on top of that. this extreme risk is going to continue to kick up. traveling will be a slow go. you're talking about the chilly and cold temperatures to go with this. tokyo is going to stay dry but chilly. something to keep in mind. maybe below the freezing point saturday night. just going to stay dry this coming weekend. >> thanks very much. robert speta will be back later in the program with more details. >>> the issue of the south china sea is linked to peace and stability. at the meeting today we confirmed that both countries which share common values and strategic interests will cooperate hand in hand for the stabi

niigata up to 11. if you're in those areas of western japan, the snow pack will start to mount. it does bring secondary problems including low lying river flooding. something we want to watch out for even though it's warming up. high pressure back towards the west is keeping things chilly and northern eastern china. seoul also getting up to about two here on wednesday. shanghai is around 10. the leading edge of the high kicking up some scattered showers in taipei with a high of 17. europe, high pressure dominating central and western europe. we'll be watching there storm system rolling through the med t -- med terraiterranian all wee. parts of norway looking up to 80 to 90 kilometers winds across the area along with heavy snow. something i want to keep a close eye on be p . travel in the central u.s. will be impacted today across the dakot dakotas. see the tight pressure gradient north of that is reducing visibility. you have a lot of blowing snow coming through with that. scattered showers in the forecast for now in chicago. i'll leave you now with your extended outlook. >>> th

there's going to be plenty of this out there even turning into blizzard conditions in niigata by friday. tokyo stays dry all week, but it stays chilly. temperatures for the overnight hours dropping down to the freezing point. back towards the west some showers in the shanghai. staying chilly north of that. then if we take a look at the americas still some rough weather in the west. l.a. you're going to be looking at scatter showers even over towards denver. i'll leave you no with your extended outlook. >>> we have one more story to share before you go. a use ship operator has started a service to allow tourists to enjoy viewing ice flows. a ceremony to pray for the ship's safety was held on tuesday ahead of the start of the service. about 50 tourists including some from hong kong boarded the boat for the first trip of the season. operations were cancelled due to high waves. the tourist enjoyed their 45-minute voyage. >> translator: i had a good time even though we couldn't see any ice floats. >> a local observatory says the ice will be visible from the coast as soon as next week. >> tha

. >> reporter: she's a fourth year student at the medical and welfare university in the city of niigata. she was bornn with a left arm that ends at the elbow. despite that ahat and because o she's learning to become a prosthetist, a person that makes artificial arms and legs. >> translator: here's the mold for the leg. >> reporter: in october, she won the top prize in a competition for assistive product ideas held in tokyo. her idea was an artificial arm with an easy adjustment for length. >> translator: i want to understand people for people who feel like giving up. i aim to come up with products they can use. >> reporter: in high school, she was on the track team and planned to become a sports nutritions. she changed her mind at a college recruiting event where she heard of a program to train prosthetists. >> translator: i made the decision in an instant and chose my major. >> reporter: she rarely uses a prosthetic arm in daily life. having grown used to her natural arm, she doesn't experience it as an inconvenience. in college, she found that certain tasks required two hands. >> tran

year ago 200 cars were stranded in niigata prefecture and a similar situation may occur during the weekend. the snowfall depth has reached 2.5 meters in parts of the tohoku region. the problem is that we'll see more snowfall during the weekend. more intense snowfall on saturday as well as sunday. cold air is flowing in siberia, that is getting ample moisture over the sea of japan and a lot of snow clouds are forming along the northwestern side of the country. there's a high mountain range in the middle of the country. typically dry across the pacific side. but this time winds are quite strong and we have the coldest air of the season blanketing the area. so even the pacific side like nagoya and sendai will see snow. >> now we combine with gusty conditions. visibility will be quite low making for hazardous drivingng conditions. not just snow, thunderstorms and high waves are expected. the coldest air of the seesen is blanketing most of the station, so tokyo will stay dry, but it's going to be quite chilly. the daytime high on the weekend is only six degrees and on sunday morning, the temper