Yamagata is north to Fukushima where is one of the major rice harvesting area in Japan.
They have measured Iodine and cesium in the rain, dust, and snow since 3/18/2011 9AM on the daily basis but they decided to quit it after 12/27/2011 9AM.
Because they will have a lot of snow in this winter ,knowing the radiation level in snow must be very important.
According to their HP “Re-considering the frequency and the quality of the measurement we will quit.”
None of the detailed explanation is given.
When they burn the radioactive debris the fall-out will be more radioactive. We needed to know the contamination level then.
(Source)
Iori Mochizuki