nippontiger

At Kagura I'd say 35-40 you should be OK, but above 40 there's a good chance the top quad will close. Looking at the forecast now, I'd say Sunday looks OK (hope so, I plan to go) and Monday I wouldn't want to risk it. I've done the Kagura trip loads of times and a few times I've made other plans because of forecast high winds and I was almost always right to do so. Things could change, so I'd leave it as late as possible and if it is still predicting 50-60KPH winds at the top as it is now, I'd give it a miss. Kagura simply isn't worth the trip for me if the top quad isn't open.

Kagura was surprisingly good today - knee deep powder in plenty of places but a bit tracked out by the time we got there after the usual Kan-etsu ordeal. Has anybody ever had a clear run down that expressway on a winter weekend? I know I haven't. JMA are calling for a cold March, but their long range also called for cold December, January and February and we got none of those so I won't hold my breath. Their long range forecasts seem to be wrong more than they are right! I think they UK Met office stopped issuing long range forecasts a couple of years back because they realised that the scien

I wonder why they don't just have a few snowploughs/gritters driving up and down the expressways when it snows? I've yet to see such a thing in the Kanto region. The amount of cash they lose through closing the expressways for several days at at time every time a bit of snow falls would surely pay for dozens of the things plus the drivers.

i've been checking the updates obsessively. it definitely snowed more yesterday and today vs the forecast on snowjapan. The forecasts come from snow-forecast.com For some reason (maybe because its not Japan-based?), they pretty much always forecast much lower accumulations than we actually get here. For example - they might call for 'heavy snow' 14 cm. They get the 'heavy snow' right but 14 cm is not a heavy snowfall in Japan - you can usually multiply that number by 5. Apart from the predicted accumulations, the forecasts themselves are usually fairly good - if they are predicting he

A freind of mine went on a skiing trip to Nagano on Friday by bus. 40 foreigners - they got stuck in the middle of Yamanashi. Spent the night on the bus and then found their ways to a fire station where they spent Saturday night. They are not allowed to go anywhere - they have no showers and the conbini has now sold out of food and booze and it looks like they have to spend another night there tonight!

It has been an unusually poor season though - this has been one of the worst in the 10 years I've been here (although we're not done just yet....!). Last season was also fairly short - spring arrived end of February but there were still some great powder days the likes of which I haven't seen this season. Hokkaido is probably the safer bet for most though - that's to be expected - it is a lot further north and is substantially colder than the central parts of honshu.

Wow! Thats a lot of snow! Unfortunately I won't be going out tomorrow - high winds and avalanche risk mean most of the good stuff at Kagura is inaccessible and my other idea of driving somewhere like Fukushima or Tochigi is a non-starter as all the expressways are closed!

Definitely not a - Powder skiers usually prefer longer skis to give them more surface area and float. b. Fat skis will help. But plenty of people skied deep powder before fat skis were even invented! c. Not necessarily a crap skier, just crap at skiing powder! I know some very good skiers who were completely hopeless in powder - it takes a bit of getting used to!

Im just praying that spring doesn't arrive at the end of February like it did last year......

Looks like I'm having to abandon my plans to go out tomorrow - massive winds everywhere according to the forecast.

Pics, or it didn't happen!

We have no snow at all in Tsukuba - it finally started coming down heavily at around midnight but turned back to rain within an hour. Its looking like the storm coming on Wednesday might make a more southerly track meaning it might not hit as hard, but the precipitation is more likely to stay as snow. Yamanashi should get another top up.....!

Its weird but here in Ibaraki we've had almost nothing. Checking the radar and all day there has been an Ibaraki-shaped dry spot over Ibaraki - as soon as the snow pushes to the Ibaraki border it stops, like there's an invisible anti-snow force field! Just a few flakes in Tsukuba thus far, but 40 miles away in Kumagaya almost a foot of snow already!

I was planning to hit Kagura again this sunday - looks like there's gonna be plenty of snow. However, latest forecast is now calling for severe gale force winds from Saturday night through Sunday which will very likely result in the top lifts being closed. Kagura isn't worth going to for me without the top quad open. Usually when the forecast was like this I'd go to Kandatsu - it was in a sheltered valley so didn't tend to be affected by strong winds - however, that place has now closed down. I wonder if anyone has recommendations for resorts in the Yuzawa area which don't get affected much

Its amazing that they don't seem to have any contingency plans for winter weather conditions in the Kanto area. In the UK (most parts of which get winters no worse than the pacific coast of Japan), when temperatures are below zero there are gritters out on all of the main roads (and quite a few of the more minor roads). I haven't seen any gritters at all in Kanto - even the main roads here in Tsukuba are just left to the elements. Black ice all over the place. Weather like Saturday's would still cause massive problems in the UK but the authorities would at least try to do some prep work for