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In a perfect world, we would have someone camped out at each of the 500-plus
snow resorts in Japan feeding us the very latest snow and weather information
into our database every 30 minutes each day. Unfortunately, that is
just not possible. So when we decided to provide all-Japan detailed weather
and snow info on Snow Japan, we looked around to try to find the most
reliable and up-to-date Japan weather and snow info available to display on
our site for the benefit of our users. Below is an explanation of
where our info and data is coming from.
Now
Reports :
Weekly Forecasts
: Snow
Depth Info / Resort Status
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SnowJapan Now! Reports
(Now
reports:
here)
Our Now! reports are filed by people based in and/or living in
the areas covered, and are provided exclusively for SnowJapan. The
people who file these reports do their very best to provide the
most in-depth and current reports possible.
Information is gathered
locally by Now! reporters and is based on personal observations and
information received directly from local ski resorts.
We want to make it very clear that our Now! report commentaries are not being filed by resorts themselves. Our goal is to provide SnowJapan readers with unbiased, completely truthful and independent accounts of the weather
and snow conditions in the popular winter sports regions of Japan.
This means that if conditions are bad, then we will say that. There is
absolutely no pressure from any business concerning the content of the SnowJapan Now!
reports. The only pressure is from within SnowJapan - to make sure
that we are providing truthful and useful reports for readers.
Whilst every effort is made to provide regular, daily
updates during the winter season, please understand that there may be some occasions when
reports are late, delayed or interrupted for some reason. We apologize
for any such occasions, and thank you for your understanding.
Please also note that Snow
Japan and the individuals posting the reports take no responsibility for any
decisions that readers may take based on what is written in the reports. Our
advice is to always take care when you are in the winter mountains and know
that conditions are ever changing in these environments.
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Weather Forecast Data
(Resort pages:
sample)
The weather forecast data and information that is displayed on many of the resort
information pages is provided courtesy of and in association with
snow-forecast.com.
The raw weather forecast data comes
from the National Weather Service (NWS) in America; the largest
organisation of its kind in the world. Serious weather forecasting
requires massive computer power, vast expertise and an almost
unlimited budget. Only a very few organisiations in the world can
achieve this. If they are honset, most small weather companies
derive their products from people like NOAA and ECMWF, and those
that don't would probably become much more reliable if they did! To
our credit we do much more than simply re-package NOAA products, but
without them as a basis, our service couldn't exist at all.
Snow-forecast uses the Global Forecast
System (GFS) weather models for their input data. These are detailed, reliable and frequently updated,
but also, because they are intended for aviation planning they
contain accurate descriptions of how conditions vary with elevation.
This provides the key to how they derive surface temperature over a
wide range of altitudes using digital elevation models. When combined with
precipitation
forecasts, they arrive at snowfall data.
For more information and a large amount of
other weather and snow data from around the globe, please visit the
snow-forecast.com website.
This data is currently displayed on over 250 resort pages within
SnowJapan and we are currently working to increase the coverage even
further.
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Snow
Depth Data & Resort Opening Status
(as displayed on Resort Watch/My Resort Watch and resort
pages)
The Snow Depth Data that is displayed on the
Resort details,
Resort Watch
and "Most
Snow" pages of Snow Japan is provided via one of the
most respected and reliable sources of up-to-date weather/resort data in
Japan.
The Snow Depth Data associated with each resort is
updated once a day -
and that data is ultimately being provided by the snow resorts
themselves. (We do not have any control over these official
snow depth numbers, so please keep this in mind).
You will find that the data displayed is for the most part accurate
and up-to-date, and we hope that it is of great assistance to all our readers
during the winter. However, there may be some occasions when - for some
reason - a resort does not update the snow depth info or resort status instantly.
This means that even though our database has been updated at the time that
is stated at the top of the pages, the Snow Depth and Resort Status data for a particular resort
may not have been updated specifically at that time. Unfortunately, those instances are
completely beyond our control, as we rely on the resorts themselves to
update the data - but we stress that in general these kind of delayed
updates are isolated cases.
PLEASE NOTE:
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Snow Japan does not control (and cannot
verify) the data that is displayed on the Weekly
Weather forecast, Resort Status and Snow Depth pages of our site.
That data is provided by a reputable weather information company, and
is the best that we have available. |
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The Snow Depth
info for each resort is updated once a day, and this data is coming from
each individual snow resort. |
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Especially at the very beginning and end of
the season, before making any big decisions about
whether to visit a resort or not - and to be sure of the actual
current conditions - we recommend that you contact the resorts directly.
We are in no way responsible for any travel (or other) decisions that
readers make based on the data presented on our site. |
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If a resort is late in providing a snow
depth report, then the info updated in our database will also be
unavoidably late. The latest information will be updated on Snow
Japan as soon as it is available. |
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If you do happen to find data that you feel is incorrect and
out-of-date, then please
do mail us at editor@snowjapan.com
to let us know about it and we will investigate.
Thank you for your understanding, and we hope you have an excellent
winter season.
SnowJapan.Com
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