Madarao Now: Sunday 31st March 2024
- Mar 31, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 11, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Madarao region of Nagano
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 728cm
Weather overview Fog Wind Westerly
Temperature -
Visibility Poor
Posted on Sunday 31st March 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Madarao Now report can be found here.
As the ski season ends at Madarao and Tangram today, I have been thinking about the season that has been. And what a very curious season 2023-2024 has been!
There’s no way of getting round it - we had relatively low snowfall during most of the season. But the less-than-normal snowfall wasn’t just a Madarao thing. Rather, it was a pattern seen in much of Japan. The word ‘danto’ 暖冬 (warm winter) was used a lot. In the bigger picture, we should be grateful that our ski areas could open all the way through winter... other regions were not so lucky.
Still, we expect consistent and heavy snowfall here in northern Nagano, right?
Happily, March 2024 surprised everyone by delivering a very impressive 234cm (my measurement) of snowfall. That is easily the most snowfall I have measured in March - and more than any other month this season.
The previous most snowfall measured in the month of March was 145cm in 2013-2014, and even that was much more than average!
The late showing means that the total snowfall number for the season is 728cm, almost exactly the same as last season (731cm). Looking at the graphs over the years, that seems fairly ‘average’ for the season as a whole.
And it turns out that we end the season with good snow cover on the mountain and some of the biggest snow depth numbers of the season too.
Weird, but thanks March!
I think it is important to remember that while the raw snowfall data is important and interesting, it is not the whole story. To get a good idea of how the season went, the ups and the downs, please do go back and read the commentary contained in the individual reports.
Anyway, that's it from me this season. Thanks for reading the reports.
I hope that everyone who visited Madarao enjoyed their time here, and were lucky with the timing too! I know lots of people I met said they would be back. That's always a good sign.
I will be back in late autumn as the 2024-2025 winter season approaches. Hopefully next season we will be treated to a season of classic, heavy, more-than-normal, beautiful snowfall.
Madarao Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Sunday 31st March 2024 Total snowfall at base 728cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 58 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 56cm (on 8th January) November 2023 snowfall 33cm reported on 4 days December 2023 snowfall 95cm reported on 8 days January 2024 snowfall 227cm reported on 16 days February 2024 snowfall 139cm reported on 14 days March 2024 snowfall 234cm reported on 16 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.