Niseko Now: Tuesday 24th January 2017
- Jan 24, 2017
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 12cm
Snowfall at base this season 398cm
Posted on Tuesday 24th January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Ah, the calm after the storm.
Here at my Hirafu base I have another 12cm of fresh snowfall to report to you and I would imagine there is a fair bit more higher up - I see the Avalanche Report this morning is reporting 20cm. So there should be a nice new layer to play with this morning.
And the other good news is that after the windy conditions yesterday (especially in the morning), it is much calmer this morning. So all the lifts should be opening as normal.
In fact, it's a beautiful morning with bright blue skies all around and sunshine. Lovely. And the webcam shows a lot of people lined up for the first lift of the day too. Come on, give us a wave!
It's still looking like potentially heavy* snowfall is due on Friday and snowfall continuing into the weekend, so we can look forward to that too.
* Heavy, but light... of course. :)
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -12℃, 20cm snowfall and snowdrifts development. Moiwa 800m: -117℃, N5m/s (15m/s@9pm, 17m/s@11pm, 10m/s@3am) snowdrifts development. Annupuri 1150m: -17℃, E15m/s, snowdrift development. Hirafu 1250m: -18℃, 20cm snowfall, snowdrifts developing in the west sides. Kamui cape lighthouse: E5m/s, 1041hPa, 2.0m waves.
The storm has temporarily calmed down, but will pick up again as the isobars tightens. The snowdrifts that developed yesterday are uniform and stable at 600m elevation, however stabilization is delayed above 800m and 60cm thick surface slab avalanches from Jan 22nd layer are to be expected in high elevation leeward slopes. Stay away form large valley’s bottom. Avalanches are natural occurrences that won’t become an accident if nobody is there. Gates 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 will be closed in the morning.
The easterly storm have generated large development of snowdrifts and cornices and the mountain looks different than usual. The snow in the forests is moderately dense, bouncy and fun to ride. Plan your day according to the given conditions. A strong cold air-mass flowed in and temperature is low, beware of frostbites.
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Official resort snow depths as of Tuesday 24th January 2017:
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Hanazono
Top - 265cm
Base - 105cm
Niseko Village
Top - 220cm
Base - 130cm
Niseko Annupuri
Top - 230cm
Base - 135cm
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Night skiing is planned until Monday 20th March 2017 at the Niseko Annupuri, Niseko Grand Hirafu and Niseko Village resort areas. There is no nighta in the Hanazono area.
Niseko Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Tuesday 24th January 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 398cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 50 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 36cm (16th December) November 2016 snowfall 110cm reported on 14 days December 2016 snowfall 181cm reported on 22 days January 2017 snowfall 107cm reported on 14 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.