Furano Now: 9th October 2026
Independent snow and weather reporting from Furano in Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 0cm
Well, well! Welcome back to winter, and welcome back to Furano Now!
Thankfully, it wasn’t a hot summer here, rarely breaking 30 C (86 F). Now with the temps cooling and the leaves exploding with color, thoughts inevitably turn to winter. To skiing. To snow. To Powder, baby!!! For that reason, fall is my favorite season. I love the sights, the smells, the weather, and even though there is no snow or skiing involved, the preparation and anticipation is delightful. Isn’t that true of so many things in life? The love of the not-yet-known? Who knows what the season will be like? It could be anything!! One thing is for sure; we will have mucho snow. The last two years have been down close to 40% from our average, but we still managed to get 5 meters. That’s a lot of centimeters, and waaaay better than Oz was this last “winter”, or Yurrup has been the last several years.
So, on to news about Furano. Well, day lift ticket prices were raised to 9,000 yen. At today’s weak yen rate, that’s only $80 AUD/$57 USD/50 Euros. Amazing. And remember, kids up to 12 ski free. Put that into your budget hopper! Hmmmm….what else? Looks like the Kitanomine Gondola got a new cable. That’s probably good, and was quite the interesting operation. I’ve heard that the iconic Rojo Coffee trailer at the gondola base is gone, and the resort has decided they will try and make coffee themselves! We’ll see how that goes. Kinda like the government thinking they can do stuff better than a private company, but I digress! There will supposedly be a few more food trucks fooding around. Construction has begun on the new Westin Hotel, but that will take 3 years. Couple of other major projects happening.
Other than that, we’re raring to go! Bring it on!
I’ll leave you with a quick story that should get the powder hounds drooling. Several years ago, I had occasion to talk with a group of workers from the Big Sky resort in Montana. I’ve always wanted to ski there. When they found out I lived in Furano, they asked me what a good powder day was for me. I had asked them the same question a few days before, and received the answer that sometimes it gets up to their boot tops. Ooooo…OK? Kind of like Colorado I guess, not as much snow as Utah, but very good quality. Anyway, knowing that, I asked whether they really wanted to hear my answer. They said yes. So, I shrugged my shoulders and said, “OK, for me, anything up to my knees is just farting around. I’m just practicing different kinds of turns, but still fun. For me, a good powder day is about mid-thigh, an awesome powder day is waist deep, and an epic powder day is up to my armpits, and I’ve had EPIC.”
They asked, “You’re not joking, are you?”
I said, “I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
They said, “We’ve got to go to Hokkaido.”
Yes, you do.
When I got back to Furano, I double-checked with my local homies to make sure I hadn’t gotten carried away with my description, and they all said I was spot-on. And, it’s not just the quantity, it’s the quality. You can’t make a snowball with this stuff. It’s too dry. When it’s on, you’ll never ski better powder in your life.
Think snow.
Furano Now2026-2027 season |
Data as of 9th October 2026 Total snowfall at base so far 0cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 0 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Furano. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report.