big-will 7 Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Thats what was just on the news and also I see the Yuzawa now page has just got an update as well. That sounds like something that happened a year ago. Let's hope they are right! Come on snow!! Taking a day off sometime this week is sounding like a very good idea. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Not very good weather conditions for the holidays, but the resorts are really in dire need of snow now - I'm sure there won't be any complaints! I'm going to stay in tomorrow and watch it pile up outside. Then I've got Tuesday and Wednesday lined up for possible instant days off Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 80cm forecast for Yamagata. It's pissing with rain right now. It's snowing in the mountains, hopefully a blanket of wet base to cover the patches. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Looking at the map on the news, it looks like Tohoku is in for the most again. Not doing too badly there this year hey? I'll be happy with 60cm + more the following days myself. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 These maps leave a bit to the imagination. Now: http://ca.c.yimg.jp/weather/weather/1168075920/weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/images/chart/img/j.jpg Tomorrow at 9AM http://ca.c.yimg.jp/weather/weather/1168...hart/img/24.jpg Link to post Share on other sites
69 5 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Dump! Dump! Dump! Dump! Dump! Dump! (etc) Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 The main weather maker seems to be the big low pressure system coming from the SOUTH. That's the problem and that's why there's not much snow on the sea of Japan side but it's windy as hell, depending on where you are. Again, Mt. Fuji probably got more. Not the typical winter weather pattern--quite the oposite. In Hokkiado too, more Easternly areas will see more snow (or rain) than the Niseko area. The guy who writes Furano-now is doing a great job but he seems to have expected the colder temperatures in Hokkaido. I don't know why. It's pretty obvious that things are not going to chill out until the big 'tropical' storm has passed. Then, hopefully the weather will start coming from the North/west bringing a constant stream of flurries to the sea of Japan side. We don't get our snow from low pressure storms, We get it from flurries or 'lake effect' snow off the sea of Japan when there's high pressure in Siberia, and low pressure to the East of Japan. (Actually there is stuff starting to come from the west right now. The weather's a mess.) Check out Yahoo weather. Sorry to come off like a 'know-it-all'. From what I here, everyone's stuck in town picking bar fights and hunting women instead of surfing the snow!! Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Got up to the sun and 0cm of snow this morning. I was very angry. The snow has started coming down now though - still wet and 0cm but hopefully this is the start of a lot. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 The low has moved up to Hokkaido and is now sucking moisture off the sea of Japan and dumping on Honshu. The snow should be getting heavier and drier. Right now people in Hakuba reading this are probably thinking "duh... !". Those of us who aren't there to enjoy it can check out these weather links. http://ca.c.yimg.jp/weather/1168144500/weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/raincloud/img/kanto_anim.gif This one is cool. It's a pretty big storm. Check out the swirling action centered around Hokkaido: http://ca.c.yimg.jp/weather/1168145820/w...img/jp_anim.gif It seems like Honshu will get a good dump but it will snow heavier and longer (ie several days) in the North and Hokkaido. Furano will get a lot over the next 24 hours but Niseko (Western Hokkaido) will get a lot more over the next several days as the low pressure system tracks off to the North East. (Sure--I'm a weather dork. Call me a jackass if I'm wrong, but give me a few props if I'm right.) Link to post Share on other sites
kaiser soce 0 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Nah keep the weather analysis coming Ger! Care to take a stab at when this crazy wind will abate in Hokkaido and we can get out and enjoy the snow? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted January 7, 2007 Share Posted January 7, 2007 Quote: It seems like Honshu will get a good dump Would be nice. It's pissing with rain here at the moment. Again. And starting to get extremely annoying. That snow this morning lasted all of not many minutes. Link to post Share on other sites
samurai 0 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 pissing rain here in yamagata too. went to the hill, half a meter at the base already. blizzarding... can't believe my wife's birthday is tomorrow and we're going yada-yadaing. oh well--- it's just skiing right? right? right? Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Still no snow here yet, just windy and heaps of rain. Ger has made a good point that the lows are tracking up the Pacific coast and pulling warm Pacific air from the east and north. The lows track the polar front and that sits in a low pressure zone between the polar and sub-tropical air masses. I've been looking at some archive data, and there is a major difference in the jet stream. I've put together some weekly averages; location and intensity. Last year the polar front passed south of east from southern Honshu, into the Pacific. Last week of Jan 2006 This winterr the polar front is coming from south of west and tracking north of east. Dec/Jan 06/07 The difference is that when moving south, the front pulls cold air south, and vice versa. If we compare the sea surface temperature anomalies for Dec 2005 and Dec 2006, the Pacific off Tohoku is something like 2-3 C warmer than last year Dec 2005 Dec 2006 I'm not sure about cause and effect, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sea surface temperature were the major control here. I need to build some more models. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 While people in Hakuba were lapping it up, in Tokushima we were visited by the inlaws, with three kids all under the age of five. There's currently 80cm of untracked crap in my house. I broke trail to my computer a little earlier and there are deep drifts in wind-swept areas. After two days the storm cleared abruptly and it's a bluebird day today, with freshies to be had all over the apartment. Becareful of slides however. You can be sure that the cornices are fully loaded and several crap slides were observed yesterday, both in and out of bounds. (Can I get my own 'Now' page?) Link to post Share on other sites
daver 0 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 consensus from hakuba peeps, did the weather deliver there? (considering a trip down for next weekend so i want to be sure it is worth it.) Link to post Share on other sites
The Takayama Tearer 0 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Been bollocking down here in Gifu for the last two days. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 It finally started here late this morning. We've had 5-10cm already, and it looks set. Link to post Share on other sites
XilR8 0 Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I was at Hakuba Goryu today. Waist-deep powder, it was dumping all day, and apart from the Toomi gelende at the bottom, barely a soul there. It was powder heaven! Got to hit that up again ASAP!! Link to post Share on other sites
skidaisuki 0 Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 daver: simple answer (after 5 days there) - Hakuba is looking good for next weekend at the moment. It's a lot better now than a week ago and looks set to keep snowing. Remember that the bigger resorts get crowded - Goryu yesterday suffered from the wind as lifts closed and we were stuck in long queues at the bottom. XilR8 was lucky today because the wind dropped, the snow kept falling and most people had buggered off home early because the highway conditions were bad. On a separate point - there's so much stupid/selfish lift behaviour going on - lift staff letting 1-2 people go per quad lift seat when there's a 10-minute queue is very frustrating...too polite to kick their 'guests' into line for the common good... Link to post Share on other sites
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