Hakuba Now: Wednesday 24th January 2018
- Jan 24, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 24cm
Snowfall at base this season 343cm
Posted on Wednesday 24th January 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Hakuba.
Snow and wind yesterday and it looks like we should be getting more of that today too.
First up, the all important fresh snow headlines from the ski resorts (what they are reporting):
Hakuba Goryu: Toomi - 5cm (!?); upper areas - 35cm
Hakuba 47: 20cm-30cm
Hakuba Cortina: 20+cm (base); 25+cm (upper)
Hakuba Happo-one: 30cm (top gondola station)
Hakuba Iwatake: 20cm
With the 24cm we are measuring here at base (and 21cm and 30cm at our two other checking points), it looks like you can generally expect 20-30cm and upwards on the slopes this morning.
That sounds good to me. And there's more coming in.
There's a fair few upper lifts and courses around the valley being affected by the weather conditions this morning and information is changing as I write this. And admittedly confusing me in the process. So in the interest of getting the report online sooner than later - and also not wanting to put out incorrect and quickly outdated info - I'm going to avoid specific lift info. So just the snow depth data updated this morning below.
If you are in Hakuba and planning on being out this morning please check with official resort info sources to see what is and isn't open.
Snow is forecast to continue through into the weekend.
With poor visibility and this sudden increase in snow, do take extra care in these conditions.
About the volcanic eruption at Kusatsu-Shirane-san in Gunma Prefecture on 23rd January 2018
As you may have heard, yesterday morning there was a limited volcanic eruption followed by an avalanche in western Gunma Prefecture, close to the border with northern Nagano Prefecture. The eruption at Motoshirane happened close to the more famous Kusatsu-Shirane-san - and also the slopes of the Kusatsu Kokusai ski resort. Around 80 skiers were evacuated to an area near the upper area of Kusatsu-Shirane with some trapped in the gondola and on lifts for a while.
Very sadly, as a result of this event there was one fatality and a number of injuries, apparently due to flying rocks and the avalanche. As far as we can tell there have been no further eruptions since yesterday morning.
Our thoughts are with everyone involved and caught up in this.
This incident made the international news with some people visiting Japan asking if their ski resort will be safe, and so we thought we would add this information to our daily reports this morning.
The only ski resort affected by this event is Kusatsu Kokusai in Gunma Prefecture.
It is currently unclear how this will affect the top area of the resort, but it seems that the lower slopes of Kusatsu Kokusai will remain open today – those slopes are quite a distance from the affected area. (And perhaps this is a good example of how Japanese people are used to living with the threat of earthquakes and volcanos!)
The ski resorts in Shiga Kogen (Nagano) and Manza Onsen (Gunma) are the other closest ski resorts, but they are outside of the 2km restricted area -- and are unaffected.
And of course, ski resorts that are further away than that are also totally unaffected.
The central part of Kusatsu town itself is about 7km away from the volcano and so also unaffected.
We hope this information helps.
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Hakuba Happo-one
Official snow depth:
- Kurobishi: 360cm
- Usagidaira: 225cm
- Lower: 115cm
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Hakuba Goryu
Official snow depth:
- Top: 300cm
- Toomi: 110cm
- Iimori: 60cm
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Hakuba 47
Official snow depth:
- Top: 260cm
- Base: 80cm
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Tsugaike Kogen
Official snow depth:
- Tsuga-no-mori: 300cm
- Han-no-ki: 295cm
- Maruyama: 110cm
- Shirakaba: 270cm
- Champion: 130cm
- Oya-no-hara: 150cm
- Kane-no-naru-oka: 110cm
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Hakuba Cortina
Official snow depth:
- Top: 295cm
- Base: 195cm
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Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field
Official snow depth:
- Top: 200cm
- Base: 120cm
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Hakuba Norikura Onsen
Official snow depth:
- 195cm
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Hakuba Valley Kashimayari
Official snow depth:
- 160cm
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Hakuba Sanosaka
Official snow depth:
- 115cm
Hakuba Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Wednesday 24th January 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 343cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 33 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (3rd January) November 2017 snowfall 47cm reported on 5 days December 2017 snowfall 158cm reported on 15 days January 2018 snowfall 138cm reported on 13 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Hakuba. 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.