Niseko Now: Wednesday 20th February 2013
- Feb 20, 2013
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 20cm
Snowfall at base this season 1208cm
Weather overview Cloud, very light snow
Wind
Varied
Temperature -10C base / -14C top
Visibility Fair-poor
Posted at 8:56am on Wednesday 20th February 2013 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
This morning I bring you news of 20cm of fresh snow at Niseko base. It's colder again with a temperature close to minus 10C a little earlier on.
There was some blue sky to see also earlier on but that has been covered up now and snow is falling as I write this report. That didn't last long. Looks like visibility has decreased as well.
It's one of those mornings when I need to mention the wind conditions. Hirafu reporting wind speeds of up to 11m/s but the Annupuri area is reporting strong winds of up to 19m/s this morning. Here's the current situation with lifts:
Niseko Annupuri - the Gondola and top Jumbo Number 4 lift are not operating
Niseko Village - the Niseko Gondola is operating at reduced speed, and the top Wonderland Chair is not moving
Niseko Hirafu - the top Ace Number 4 and King Number 4 lifts are not operating
Niseko Hanazono - the top Hanazono Number 3 quad lift is operating at reduced speed
Depending on how the wind bears out during the day the above may well change of course.
Looking at the forecast, seems we can still expect snow to be falling each day through into next week. The big question is how those winds turn out each day.
Avalanche Information
Niseko base 6am: -11C, 20cm of broken particle snow and stormy. Moiwa 800m: strong westerly wind and development of snowdrifts. Annupuri peak: WSW17.7m/s, -18.1C. Coastal data: NW17m/s, 3.6m waves and 1009hPa.
The typical winter pressure pattern is generating a strong storm. According to observations and data evaluations, the snowdrifts are developing big and leeward steep slopes and knolls are very unstable. The avalanche risk is very high today. Peak gates will be kept closed for the sake of all resort users. Please respect the decisions of ski patrols regarding other gates.
The snow has been reset, however is heavily wind affected and heavy. The visibility is bad and the snow surface is hard to see. Beware of falling into cracks and lost of control. There are many unexpected cracks in the out of bounds areas. And if you fell into those, you would go headfirst. Beware.
Better stick within the resort and enjoy the powder of the side of the pistes today. Do not seek fresh tracks outside the ropes or in the strictly off-limits areas. Beware of frostbites. Be safe, have fun and have a nice day.
Niseko Now 2012-2013 season |
Data as of Wednesday 20th February 2013 Total snowfall at base so far 1208cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 80 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 45cm (27th January) November 2012 snowfall 118cm reported on 11 days December 2012 snowfall 418cm reported on 27 days January 2013 snowfall 443cm reported on 26 days February 2013 snowfall 229cm 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 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.