Myoko Now: Sunday 2nd May 2021
- May 2, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Nov 5, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Myoko region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 1355cm
Posted on Sunday 2nd May 2021 This is an archived report. The latest Myoko Now report can be found here.
Just an update, because, yes, you can ski in Myoko. Did I write that already? This weather is confusing me a bit. A friend climbed Mt. Iizuna, just south of Mt. Kurohime (to the south of Mt. Myoko), and found that, while it was mostly late spring conditions, it also snowed up high. Snow looks like it might fall again later today (and thunder, rain, winds....). Always something interesting going on with the weather.
Lotte Arai is still going, still says 195cm, and not sure about the closing, but they were planning to go to mid-month.
So that's about it. I'll add my year-end round-up below. If anything comes up, I'll get back on; otherwise, I'll see you somewhere around November when we get information on the 2021-22 season!
Season recap
What can you say when the whole world is affected by a viral pandemic? Seems small to complain, and I'll give the resort people I've talked to credit: everybody knows how tough it's been, but everyone also basically says, "Well, what can you do?" The Japanese version of a stiff upper lip, we'll tough it out, etc. And they're right. We didn't have a major outbreak of corona here, no one died from infection, we did get to see friends once in a while, and local shops and restaurants put in all the necessary countermeasures.
The weather, though, was more problematic. After the really disastrous low snow of the 2019-20 season, we had good snow this year. I skied some of the best, lightest, nicest powder I've had in far too many years here. I actually got to use my big monster machines to clear the snow on many occasions, which was oddly satisfying (I'm obviously moving quickly into snow-obsessed ojisan). So we had snow.
It was the cycles of snow and cold then warm/sun/rain that was troubling. I'll ask what lots of locals said out loud: is this what the future holds? That, and a March with basically no fresh snow. The level around the house today is more like a normal late April, not late March. Those cycles aren't just annoying for us who would like the snow to just keep falling like in the past. There are a lot more layers forming in the snow, so the danger of avalanches could be higher, too. This year there weren't that many people out in the backcountry, but some of my friends did set off some slides, saw a lot of strange stuff, etc. Luckily they're locally knowledgeable and cautious, but if powder fever takes over.... Hmmmm.
So this season ends with a whimper, but there wasn't much yelling going on at any time in the season. All the resorts will be back next year; hopefully we'll all get jabs in the arm and be virus-proofed and we can do things like shake hands and have a beer without a plastic barrier between us. The mountain, as always, is great. Even when it's not a great ski day, I can always look around the Myoko peaks and just enjoy the beauty of this place. Pick the right day for the skiing, enjoy the life if not exactly like it was 25 years ago (but I'm not the same skier I was 25 years ago....)
Myoko Now 2020-2021 season |
Data as of Sunday 2nd May 2021 Total snowfall at base so far 1355cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 50 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 75cm (8th February) November 2020 snowfall 1cm reported on 1 day December 2020 snowfall 478cm reported on 12 days January 2021 snowfall 431cm reported on 17 days February 2021 snowfall 406cm reported on 16 days March 2021 snowfall 32cm reported on 2 days April 2021 snowfall 7cm reported on 2 days May 2021 snowfall 0cm |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Myoko. 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.