Hakuba Now: Sunday 6th May 2018
- May 6, 2018
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 17, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Hakuba region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 547cm
Posted on Sunday 6th May 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Hakuba Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Hakuba.
So, the ski lifts that are still spinning will end their season later on today, Sunday 6th May.
It should be a fine day to end things for the season, with a fair bit of cloud around early on. Temps are set to rise to around mid-20s during the day.
Did you enjoy the season?
I had a blast.
Actually, I probably spent more time on the slopes than I have for a few seasons. As I live here, I am lucky enough to be able to time my adventures based on snow and weather conditions. But from many conversations with visitors over the season, it’s clear that lots of folk have been here and quickly come to love Hakuba. As you do. Of course, some were luckier than others with timing... but that’s always going to be the case when you are dealing with nature.
I’m not going to go over details of the season. I feel like that is what I have been doing every day for 5+ months. If you are interested in how the season went, please check out all of the archive reporting and you’ll get a day-by-day account. If you look on the Snowfall Analysis page (the blue button above), you’ll be able to compare recent seasons too. It’s worth spending some time reading through things if you are planning on visiting.
An important word about snowfall numbers
Note: this is my personal opinion (and an edited version of what I wrote at the end of last season)
The ‘observed snowfall’ number that I report each day is how much snow I observe near Happo-one base. It’s basically how much snow you can expect at village/base levels. ‘Hakuba’ covers a rather wide area and so there is at times inevitably going to be more or less snow in different parts of the village and by different resorts.
For more of an explanation of this reported ‘observed snowfall’ number - and why we report it - please read the SnowJapan message that can be found below.
Hakuba typically gets less snow in the village compared with some other ‘snow country’ regions. My good friend lives over in Yuzawa town in Niigata Prefecture and we often compare and discuss this kind of thing. Yuzawa town is at an elevation of around 360m and they get famously impressive amounts of snow falling at that level. But the ski resorts over in Yuzawa mostly have less vertical than the ski resorts in Hakuba. The mountains are also mostly smaller and upper elevations are not as high. This all means that in Yuzawa the difference in the amount of snow falling at town and on the ski slopes is less than the difference that we experience here in Hakuba.
The ski resorts in Hakuba get a lot more snowfall at higher elevations than down at base levels. As this is of course an important point, every day I feel it is important to make a point of reporting the on-mountain snowfall numbers that the ski resorts around Hakuba are themselves publishing each morning. I mention this snowfall every day in the individual ski resort data part of my reports, as well as near the top of my reports.
Nature is of course very complex and reporting on snow is never going to be simple and clear-cut especially in an area as wide as Hakuba.
Anyway, I do my best with the reporting and I tell you what I see with my own eyes each day.
Hopefully we will get some nice spring weather over the next month. Then we’ll get into ‘rainy season’ and summer. Even here in Hakuba, the summer heat can be brutal - but we have our beautiful large mountains to climb and we are able to escape to higher altitudes. Ropeways will be operating to help you get up there. Please do check with the resorts for the latest information.
That’s it from me for the 2017-2018 season and this is my last report of the season.
On behalf of the good folks running SnowJapan, thank you for reading the Hakuba Now reports. I’ll be back again in November as the 2018-2019 winter season approaches.
See you in autumn!
Hakuba Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Sunday 6th May 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 547cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 60 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 42cm (25th January) November 2017 snowfall 47cm reported on 5 days December 2017 snowfall 158cm reported on 15 days January 2018 snowfall 202cm reported on 18 days February 2018 snowfall 103cm reported on 15 days March 2018 snowfall 17cm reported on 5 days April 2018 snowfall 20cm reported on 2 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.