Hokkaido's Snow Bugs

This is not about people who love the snow. It's about harbingers of snow.
Every year around this time, as the days get shorter and the air gets nippy, Hokkaido natives can predict when the first snow will fall to within a week.

Today is Tuesday, and by the time next Tuesday rolls around, snow will fall.

That's the prediction, and it doesn't come from the weather bureau. It comes from snow bugs.

Snow bugs are tiny, white, almost weightless, and easily mistaken for dust motes. Today the snow bugs appeared in Niseko.

Expect snow within the week.