Niseko Now: Friday 22nd April 2016
- Apr 22, 2016
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 987cm
Posted on Friday 22nd April 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning once again from Niseko. It is a fine spring morning here with blue skies and warm conditions continuing, with a high temperature of 18 degrees forecast for Kutchan town. With the warmth the snow close to base is now quickly drying up and disappearing. Always a sad thing to see.
There's not much of a wind at all and I expect the planned lifts to be operating as normal this morning.
After today it looks like temperatures should drop a little and while sun is still on the forecast for tomorrow, there might be a chance of a bit of rain early morning as well.
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'Golden Week' is fast approaching.
So what exactly is Golden Week? For those of you who don't know, Golden Week is a number of national holidays that happen close to each other giving lots of people a nice holiday in late April and early May. Most tourist spots get very busy as a result!
Depending on what days they fall, some years it is a considerably long period. This year, the actual national holidays are 'Showa Day' on Friday 29th April, 'Constitution Day' on Tuesday 3rd May, 'Greenery Day' on Wednesday 4th May and 'Children's Day' on Thursday May 5th. This means that this year Golden Week looks like this:
* Friday 29th April - Sunday 1st May (3 day long weekend)
* Tuesday 3rd May - Thursday 5th May (3 day holiday mid-week)
* Saturday 7th May - Sunday 8th May (normal weekend)
No doubt some folk will be taking Monday 2nd May and Friday 6th May as a holiday as well giving them a 10 day break. Nice.
Thursday 5th May is scheduled to be the last day of the snow season here in Niseko.
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Resort specific lift opening news at time of posting:
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Niseko Annupuri
Both resorts will likely be able to open as normal this morning.
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Official resort snow depths as of Friday 22nd April 2016:
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Top - 285cm
Base - 20cm
Niseko Annupuri
Top - 280cm
Base - 20cm
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Resort operations - subject to change due to snow and weather conditions
Niseko Grand Hirafu resort area lift operations:
Ace Number 2 Center Four Quad
Ace Number 3 Pair
Ace Number 4 Pair
The resort is 'upgrading' the King Number 3 triple lift in time for next season. As part of that work the Hirafu Gondola, King Number 3 and 4 lifts have all now closed for this season. Niseko Grand Hirafu plans to remain open until Thursday 5th May.
Niseko Annupuri plans to be open until Thursday 5th May with the Gondola, Jumbo 1 and Jumbo 4 lifts operating.
Niseko Village is currently closed but plans to be open again for Golden Week from Friday 29th April until Thursday 5th May.
Niseko Hanazono has now closed for the season.
Niseko Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Friday 22nd April 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 987cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 85 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 38cm (17th February) November 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 4 days December 2015 snowfall 244cm reported on 17 days January 2016 snowfall 303cm reported on 26 days February 2016 snowfall 266cm reported on 22 days March 2016 snowfall 109cm reported on 14 days April 2016 snowfall 4cm reported on 2 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.