A Japanese shrine has recorded one lake's ice for 583 years, as a divination

For over five centuries, a Shinto shrine in Japan has documented the freezing of Lake Suwa, creating one of the longest continuous climate records in existence. The data, now digitized and available via NSIDC, reveals the lake's ice cover dates from 1443 to 1578, with occasional gaps and uncertain years. This remarkable record, originally kept as a form of divination, offers invaluable insight into historical climate patterns and the region's environmental changes over nearly 600 years.