Niseko Now: Saturday 10th March 2018
- Mar 10, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 1234cm
Posted on Saturday 10th March 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
There's just a dusting of fresh snow to report this morning here at base. Not quite 1cm, but there have been days when there's been an extra few mm, so I'm going to award the reports a mighty 1cm this morning! I am hearing reports of around 3-5cm higher up on the mountain this morning.
It's colder today which is very welcome and hopefully we will see some sunshine. For now it is cloudy with some blue sky.
Hopefully that rain is out of the system now and we can get on enjoying some spring skiing. And indeed, snowboarding.
We need to enjoy what we have as there's not much in terms of snow potential.
---
You may have noticed a very short time of downtime yesterday with the website. Actually, apparently it only lasted less than 5 minutes.
But hopefully you will this morning notice that the website in general is whizzing around rather quickly and pages are loading nice and faster than before. That's because SnowJapan has moved to a brand new server that is packing a lot more muscle. I hear it is shiny too. The new hardware will let us cope with the annually increasing traffic into the coming years. At times this season there had been a bit of a 'bottleneck' early morning when large numbers of people were checking the reports, but that should not be the case now. In theory, more than triple the number of people can now access the site at exactly the same time.
Hurray!
A big 'otsukaresama' to all the guys involved - it's way more complex and stressful than just a case of copying a bunch of files.
---
Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6.00am: -5°, 2cm new snow. Moiwa 800m: -7.3°, NW3.0m/s, 5cm new snow, inconsistent snowdrift development. Annupuri 1150m: -8°, NW5m/s, trace new snow. Hirafu peak: -10°, light winds, 3cm new snow. Coastal data: Benkei Cape: NNE6m/s. Kamui Cape: SE2m/s, 1021hPa, wave 1.9m.
The warm low pressure system has moved of to the north east and a north west snow wind is now blowing. Snow drift and cornice development at Moiwa peak over the last 12 hours has mainly been from wind blown snow which has settled down now. The warm air and strong winds yesterday have caused irregular snow drift development. From this mornings observation, there is the possibility of surface avalanches on leeward slopes, fracturing on Mar 9th low pressure snowfall layer at about 40cm. Be careful on cornice slopes and around knolls.
Peak gates are expected to be open. Please listen to the patrols advice. Be prepared before going out of bounds. Snow drift conditions are not bad, however there is a wet layer below the surface which can easily catch you. Ride carefully and take constant note of snow conditions. There is high possibility of a full depth avalanche at Kozan no Sawa 1000m elev, Annupuri Osawa 1000m elev SE slope. If an avalanche occurs it will be extremely dangerous. Avoid riding in the valley bottom, this is where the avalanche will run. Guides and group leaders remember you are responsible for the safety of your group. Do not lead groups onto cornice slopes or into valley bottoms. Death cookies on the groomers in places today, take care. Have a good day.
---
Saturday 10th March 2018
Resort specific information (operations subject to change):
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts should be operating as planned
Official snow depth:
- Top: 505cm
- Base: 210cm
Niseko Annupuri
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts should be operating as planned
Official snow depth:
- Top: 450cm
- Base: 240cm
Niseko Village
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts should be operating as planned (Country Road Chair lift not operating)
Official snow depth:
- Top: 420cm
- Base: 230cm
Niseko Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Saturday 10th March 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 1234cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 93 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 45cm (31st December) November 2017 snowfall 188cm reported on 11 days December 2017 snowfall 406cm reported on 27 days January 2018 snowfall 305cm reported on 26 days February 2018 snowfall 299cm reported on 24 days March 2018 snowfall 36cm reported on 5 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Kutchan/Niseko. 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.