Madarao Now: Sunday 29th March 2026
- Mar 29
- 4 min read
Updated: May 6
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Madarao region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 705cm
Posted on Sunday 29th March 2026 This is an archived report. The latest Madarao Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Madarao on this last day of the 2025-2026 season for the two ski areas on the mountain.
I probably say this every year but... how fast was that?! (Way too fast).
Something else I may say every year is... it was a somewhat strange season.
My total observed snowfall for the season was 705cm. That's on the lower side (last season I observed over 10m). 401cm of that snowfall came in January. February was disappointing - seemingly in most of Japan, not just here - with less than 1m observed at base, which is the lowest number I have observed for the month since starting these reports in 2012. And we didn't get much fresh in March either. Thankfully, temperatures remained quite low for much of March so it didn't all melt away and we could ride it though until the end.
There was also that avalanche at the end of February which disrupted operations a bit.
Still, it might not have been a classic season, but I have had some great days out and no doubt many others have too.
Particularly in January!
SnowJapan will be posting an end-of-season message to all of the daily reports in early May. The site is getting a big renew/refresh in time for next season, all being well, so everything will be looking different. Something to look forward to.
I plan to be back with you though to report from Madarao. I wish you well and see you in November.
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A message from SnowJapan (posted 6th May 2026)
This message is being published on each of our daily report pages and is not specific to Madarao
The season is now over for all but a few ski areas, and the last of our daily reporting for 2025-2026 has been posted. I hope that our independent reporting has once again helped many people this past ski season. With our large and wide-reaching readership from every part of the world, we feel a real sense of responsibility for the information we publish.
A sincere thank you to the wonderful reporters who contribute to our daily reporting.
It has been another long season with more unique stories from around the country. A general Japan season wrap-up seems inappropriate, given the vast differences across the country's many mountainous regions. Still, I think it's fair to say that in most regions, 2025-2026 was not a top-tier classic for Japan in terms of snowfall.
But... that is comparing Japan with Japan – and, as we all know, that is a very high bar!
All being well, later this year, a from-the-ground-up new version of SnowJapan will replace the current site (which has been online since February 2022).
Work started on the new project over a year ago. I don't want to reveal details just yet, as there is still a lot of work to do and some things may change. The main goal of this renewal is to simplify and refine the site, keep things 'light', with a focus on improving core content and usability. It's a lot of work, but with all the foundations now largely in place, it is exciting to start seeing it all come together. Hopefully, the end result will work out as imagined.
It might be a shock to the system when the changeover happens, but not to worry - the basic concept and values that have guided SnowJapan since 1999 are still very much firmly in place.
The new site is expected to be ready by November 2026, and more information will be shared in late summer.
Madarao Now 2025-2026 season |
Data as of Sunday 29th March 2026 Total snowfall at base 705cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 48 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 58cm (on 25th January) November 2025 snowfall 26cm reported on 1 day December 2025 snowfall 160cm reported on 11 days January 2026 snowfall 401cm reported on 19 days February 2026 snowfall 93cm reported on 13 days March 2026 snowfall 25cm reported on 4 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Madarao. 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.