Niseko Now: Friday 21st March 2014
- Mar 21, 2014
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 1148cm
Posted on Friday 21st March 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
A lovely day again yesterday, clouds overnight and just a thin layer of new snow this morning - about 1cm or so. Cloudy at the moment, with Mt Yotei hidden, and around 0 degrees now.
This morning the main thing though is going to be... the wind. As I write this before 8:30am, here's what is affected:
Niseko Annupuri - Annupuri Gondola
Niseko Village - Niseko Gondola, Wonderland Chair
Niseko Grand Hirafu - King 3, King 4
Hanazono - Hanazono 3
That may well of course change as conditions change, but we are expecting windy conditions for the day, hopefully less tomorrow.
As I mentioned, today is a national holiday in Japan.
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Due to the 'Waya' event on Sunday, the King 1 and Hirafu Freeride Park at Niseko Grand Hirafu will be in use just for that and so not available to the public.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Niseko base 6am: -1C,low-pressure snowfall 1cm in 12 hours. Moiwa 800m: n/a. Annupuri 1150m: NE18m/s, -7C, 1000m snowpack 340cm. Hirafu 1000m: -6C, no snowfall, strong NE wind. Peak 1308m: NN 20.3m/s, -9.3C. Coastal data: cape Benkei E4m/s, cape Kamui 3m/s, 0.6m waves, 1002hPa.
The low-pressure system moving NE at 35km/h along the pacific coast is generating strong NE wind (20+m/s above 1000m). Gates 2 & 3 will be closed. Others to be determined. Please follow the ski patrol’s instructions. Spring avalanche hazard is rising in south facing off-limits areas, Haru no taki, Mizuno no sawa, Yu no sawa. Stay away of the valley bottoms, avalanche could strike from above you. Deep thick slides are also likely to occur in Kozan no sawa (backbowl), Osawa and Higashi-one. Beware of trees, cracks and giant snowballs under cornices. The conditions are bad, wet, catchy snow. Better not push too far today.
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Official snow depth numbers and lift news at time of writing:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 390cm
Base - 180cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 385cm
Base - 185cm
Annupuri:
Top - 370cm
Base - 200cm
Niseko Now 2013-2014 season |
Data as of Friday 21st March 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 1148cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 95 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (14th January) November 2013 snowfall 123cm reported on 9 days December 2013 snowfall 275cm reported on 22 days January 2014 snowfall 461cm reported on 29 days February 2014 snowfall 178cm reported on 20 days March 2014 snowfall 111cm reported on 15 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.