Niseko Now: Sunday 23rd March 2014
- Mar 23, 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 1150cm
Posted on Sunday 23rd March 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning from the Niseko area. As I mentioned before, last night was the last 'nighta' of the season. Sad, but it has been good. Always one of the signs that we are now entering the final stretch of the season, though we do have 6 weeks of so left. (That's still a lot of reports I have to write... gambarimasu!)
OK, so how about this morning. Just a dusting of snow overnight. The sun is out early on and we have a mix of blue sky and cloud. The forecast for the coming week is looking a lot like that as well, with barely a sign of snow. Instead, it is still set to warm up, especially from tomorrow. We might even get to see high temperatures of up to 10 degrees in Kutchan mid week. No doubt it is going to very much feel like 'spring has arrived', properly.
Still there's a lot of snow around and a lot of fun still to be had.
Let's see where we stand with observed snowfall for the month - currently on 112cm, and 1149cm for the season so far. Last season for March we got 164cm and 1549cm for the whole season from the same observations. This information can of course be seen lower down on this (and every) page of our reports.
---
Niseko base 6am: -6C, 2cm of snow in 12 hours. Moiwa peak: no data. Annupuri 1000m: snowpack 370cm. hirafu 1000m: -7C, calm. Pea k1308m: WNW3.4m/s, -9.2C. Coastal data: cape Benkei calm, cape Kamui SSW6m/s, 0.7m waves, 1017hPa.
Isobars are spaced out, calm condition at the ocean and the mountains. There are no notable development of snowdrifts and the general avalanche risk is low, except the Spring climax slides hazard in strictly off-limits areas of Haru no taki, Mizuno no sawa and Yu no sawa. Peak gates will be open from the morning. The surface above 1000m altitude will be crusty and hard-packed during the morning. A thin, nice feeling blanket of fresh snow is covering the surface in the trees. A Low might form later in the day and the weather may change quickly, always be ready for unexpected situations. Spring is approaching in the mountains. Have a nice day.
---
Official snow depth numbers and lift news at time of writing:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 385cm
Base - 180cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 385cm
Base - 185cm
Annupuri:
Top - 370cm
Base - 190cm
Niseko Now 2013-2014 season |
Data as of Sunday 23rd March 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 1150cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 97 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 113cm reported on 17 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.