Snow is not News; No Snow Is News

Only in Hokkaido would the evening news have a story that there's no snow! One segment showed postponements of crosscountry skiing events. Note that they "postponed," not "cancelled," because there's a always a strong likelihood of snow in Hokkaido. In fact, a huge storm is supposed to blow in tomorrow.

Right now, though, there are actually wide areas on the sidewalks where the pavement is showing. Just to show how unusual this is, see the photo below of what the sidewalk from my apartment to the subway station looked like last year on this date. Is this a result of global warming or just quirky weather?