TOKYO, March 16 (Reuters) - A cold snap brought a sprinkle of snow to Tokyo on Friday morning for the first time this winter, the latest arrival of snow in the capital on record, the official weather agency said.

"Snow fell for a short while from around 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Thursday)," an official with Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

"It was the latest first snowfall since the agency started keeping records in 1876."

Temperatures have dropped below average levels across Japan in mid-March, with heavy snow hitting northern areas at the start of spring following unusually mild weather in the winter months from December to February.

The previous record for late-arriving snow was Feb. 10, set in 1960, the Meteorological Agency official said.

A U.S. government agency said on Thursday that this has been the world's warmest winter since record-keeping began more than a century ago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the combined global land and ocean surface temperature from December to February was at its highest since records began in 1880.

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