Snow adds to Japan's misery

Japan's Self Defence Force soldiers search for missing people in a snow-covered field in Miyako in Iwate prefecture on March 16, 2011. The snow only hampered search-and-rescue operations and added to the misery of those who survived the nation's quake and tsunami disasters.

Yoshikatsu Hiratsuka, 66, cries in front of his collapsed house with his mother still missing, possibly buried in the rubble, at Onagawa town in Miyagi prefecture on March 17, 2011. The official number of dead and missing after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan's northeast coast rises daily.

People ride bicycles on a road between rubbles in the snow at Friday's earthquake and tsunami-hit area in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, March 17, 2011.

Japanese citizens wait in line for gas at a filling station in Ichinoseki in Iwate prefecture on March 17, 2011, as basic supplies remain scarce in regions heavily damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. A cold snap brought heavy snows over the country's northeast overnight and coated highways in treacherous black ice.

A family walks in a snoewfall through the tsunami and earthquake damage in Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture on March 17, 2011. Thick snow covered the quake-hit region, all but extinguishing hopes of finding anyone alive in the rubble.

Local firefighters search for people from the March 11 tsunami in a snow-covered field in Miyako in Iwate prefecture on March 16, 2011.

People line up in the snow to buy food and daily necessities outside a supermarket in Sendai in Miyagi prefecture on March 16, 2011.

008-more-snow-rubb;e.jpg — NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

A man walks through the rubble in the snow in Kamaishi on March 16, 2011, five days after the devasting earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11.

Japanese citizens line up for gas at a filling station in Ichinoseki in Iwate prefecture on March 17, 2011, as basic supplies remain scarce in regions heavily effected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Braving snow, an elderly woman carries water bottles on her bicycle Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, five days after an earthquake and a tsunami devastated northeastern coastal towns in Japan.

Rubble and people's personal items are stuck in the snow-covered bushes in Kamaishi on March 16, 2011, following the devasting earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11.

A man walks through the rubble in the snow in Kamaishi on March 16, 2011, five days after the devasting earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11.

People use melting snow for portable toilets in Onagawa, northern Japan, Thursday, March 17, 2011, after Friday's powerful earthquake-triggered tsunami hit Japan's northeast coast.

Japan's Self Defence Force soldiers search for missing people in a snow covered field in Miyako in Iwate prefecture on March 16, 2011. Japan's Emperor Akihito delivered a rare address to a jittery nation in dread of nuclear catastrophe on March 16 as millions struggled in desperate conditions after quake and tsunami disasters.

AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Kenji Shimizu

Snow covers an earthquake-triggered tsunami hit area in Minamisanriku town, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, Thursday, March 17, 2011.

People queue up in the snow to buy food and daily necessities outside a supermarket in Sendai in Miyagi prefecture on March 16, 2011.

Japan's Self Defence Force soldiers search for missing people in a snow covered field in Miyako in Iwate prefecture on March 16, 2011.

Members of Virginia;s Fairfax County search-and-rescue team make their way through mud and snow to search destroyed houses for survivors in Kamaishi on March 16, 2011, following the devasting earthquake and ensuing tsunami

People stand in driving snow as the yait for a bus to leave town in Sendai, Japan, March 17, 2011. Sendai is one of Japan's northeast coast towns devastated by Friday's earthquake and tsunami it spawned.