Niseko Now: Friday 16th February 2024
- Feb 16, 2024
- 5 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 776cm
Posted on Friday 16th February 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Several cm of fresh snow this morning and some nice flakes coming down as I write this report. Always great to see!
At the same time, though, there is some sun trying to break through in places. It would be nice if we got more of the snow today as there's generally clearer skies forecast over the weekend. (Back to snow and cold mid-week, it seems).
It is a bit windy this morning and top lifts (and possibly more) might not be able to open as planned this morning.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain Base 6am: -6°, 5cm new snow, mild blizzard. Moiwa 800m: -10°, N11.6m/s (24m/s @ 6am), snow, wind, cornice and snowdrift development. Mikaeri 764m: -8°, snow, wind, poor visibility. Annupuri 1100m: -11.2°, NW4.9m/s (18m/s @ 6am). Village 1000: -9.9°, NW2.8m/s. Hanazono 1000m: -10.8°, ENE15.4m/s (25m/s @ 6am). Hanazono 3 : -8.5°. Coastal data: Benkei Cape: NNE15m/s. Kamui Cape N15m/s, 1014hPa, wave 2.7m.
A typical winter type pressure pattern has set up and is expected to strengthen this morning. From midnight to dawn blizzard conditions on the mountains and storms at sea. After 10am the weather is expected to ease. As the wind drops waves will also drop. Leeward slopes above 800m up to 50cm snowdrifts will rapidily accumulate under cornices and knolls. These will easily fracture by rider stimulation. The avalanche risk is high this morning. Gate opening will depend on lift operation and yet to be decided. Please follow the patrols instructions. There is 20-30cm of good snow in the trees below 700m. However watch out for the hard rough snow underneath, especially along the edges of groomed runs. It didn't snow as much as expected, but its a little better than nothing. This information is provided to help ensure the safety of out of bounds riding in Niseko. Outside the gate is not part of the ski resort. Do not duck ropes to go out of bounds. One set of tracks leads other to follow. Eventually an accident will happen. Is your beacon on? Be careful of frostbite. Have a nice day.
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A message from SnowJapan
This general message is being posted on each of our daily reports. It is not specific to Niseko or any one region of Japan
It is hard to grasp that we are already in the second half of February. Where did all the time go? Being so busy with daily updates, every winter seems to fly by so very quickly...
By all accounts, this season, there has been a rush of people visiting Japan from most corners of the world to enjoy the mountains. Many famous ski destinations have been busy with 'inbound' guests, with visitor numbers surpassing pre-COVID levels. That subject has been making regular national news here in Japan (and also provoking much-related discussion!)
We sincerely hope everyone visiting enjoyed not only the skiing and snowboarding but also the whole Japan experience. And, of course, that everyone visiting in the coming weeks will also have a great time.
There are not many things that the people behind SnowJapan love more than massive amounts of consistent snowfall. And skiing/snowboarding on it. That love is literally the reason why this website exists!
Inbound visitor statistics aside, the main ski industry story of the 2023-2024 season so far is probably the relatively low snowfall levels across much of Japan. Some regions have been close to normal in terms of expected snowfall. Unfortunately, most regions of Japan haven't had as much snow as usual, and temperatures have stubbornly tended to track 'warmer than usual' which has meant more rain when it might have been snow.
While it hasn't been a classic season in terms of the amount of snowfall, that's not to say there haven't been excellent conditions; many people, including this writer, have enjoyed some very fine days. And for most people, it has been perfectly fine. Reading this, you may very well be one of those. On a day-to-day basis, most visitors probably won't even notice 'the bigger picture' that is being discussed here.
Less snow, however, has various implications for everyone involved in the ski season and dealing with that bigger picture. One of the big things is that the season will probably be shorter than usual.
This last week has been particularly warm; unfortunately, a number of ski areas around Japan have already closed. Unless the weather patterns change significantly, we will be in a situation where we should expect some ski areas to be unable to remain open until their 'planned closing dates'. Those planned closing dates can be found on the individual ski area pages within SnowJapan. Please keep this in mind when looking at the information on our site.
While it is impossible to cover the status of every ski area in real-time, our reporters will discuss this subject in our Now daily reports over the coming weeks.
All being well, we will get more blasts of winter. Heck, it's still February, so we should! (And we plan to be still reporting into early May).
However much more fresh snow we are blessed with across the coming weeks, the best thing we can do is appreciate and celebrate the precious snow we have.
Niseko Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Friday 16th February 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 776cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 72 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 62cm (8th January) November 2023 snowfall 120cm reported on 11 days December 2023 snowfall 247cm reported on 24 days January 2024 snowfall 298cm reported on 24 days February 2024 snowfall 111cm reported on 13 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.