Niseko Now: Wednesday 24th January 2018
- Jan 24, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 21cm
Snowfall at base this season 750cm
Posted on Wednesday 24th January 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Gunma Prefecture is a very long way from Niseko, but still some people have even asked me about the volcano that happened down there yesterday, so please do read the message below about that situation and be assured that Hokkaido is 100% unaffected by that unfortunate event.
Back up here in Niseko.
...and it is a morning when I can say a hearty (or is that 'heartful') hurray!
I have 21cm of fresh snow to report at base. And I'm confident that there'll be a good layer more than that up on the mountain.
What's more, the silly strong winds that we had to put up with from yesterday evening have seemingly calmed down. Well, down here anyway. Those winds will have mixed things up out there though so be aware of avalanche danger and be sure to play safe - take care out there.
It's surely going to be a fantastic morning here.
Good amount of nice fresh snow with cold conditions.
The sun is out, just a bit of cloud.
Mt Yotei looking particularly beautiful (and wearing a funny little hat).
Ace.
The forecast still has consistent snowfall lined up over the coming week though, so these early morning weather conditions may not last. Good to get them while you can and indeed the early queues for first lifts shows that there are lots of people thinking the same. Clever folk, people who come to Niseko. ;)
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About the volcanic eruption at Kusatsu-Shirane-san in Gunma Prefecture on 23rd January 2018
As you may have heard, yesterday morning there was a limited volcanic eruption followed by an avalanche in western Gunma Prefecture, close to the border with northern Nagano Prefecture. The eruption at Motoshirane happened close to the more famous Kusatsu-Shirane-san - and also the slopes of the Kusatsu Kokusai ski resort. Around 80 skiers were evacuated to an area near the upper area of Kusatsu-Shirane with some trapped in the gondola and on lifts for a while.
Very sadly, as a result of this event there was one fatality and a number of injuries, apparently due to flying rocks and the avalanche. As far as we can tell there have been no further eruptions since yesterday morning.
Our thoughts are with everyone involved and caught up in this.
This incident made the international news with some people visiting Japan asking if their ski resort will be safe, and so we thought we would add this information to our daily reports this morning.
The only ski resort affected by this event is Kusatsu Kokusai in Gunma Prefecture.
It is currently unclear how this will affect the top area of the resort, but it seems that the lower slopes of Kusatsu Kokusai will remain open today – those slopes are quite a distance from the affected area. (And perhaps this is a good example of how Japanese people are used to living with the threat of earthquakes and volcanos!)
The ski resorts in Shiga Kogen (Nagano) and Manza Onsen (Gunma) are the other closest ski resorts, but they are outside of the 2km restricted area -- and are unaffected.
And of course, ski resorts that are further away than that are also totally unaffected.
The central part of Kusatsu town itself is about 7km away from the volcano and so also unaffected.
We hope this information helps.
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Wednesday 24th January 2018
Resort specific information (operations subject to change):
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts apart from King Number 2 are generally operating
- 'Early Morning' services from 8:00am until 8:20am (Ace Number 2 Center Four quad lift). Until 28th January. 500 yen special ticket required.
Official snow depth:
- Top: 385cm
- Base: 180cm
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts are generally operating
- Top Jumbo lift will be delayed
Official snow depth:
- Top: 290cm
- Base: 170cm
Niseko Village
Lifts scheduled to be operating:
- All lifts apart from the Country Road Chair lift should be operating
- 'Early Gondola' service from 7:30am until 8:30am (Niseko Gondola). January 27th-28th; February 3rd-4th. 1,400 yen special ticket required.
Official snow depth:
- Top: 290cm
- Base: 170cm
Niseko Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Wednesday 24th January 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 750cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 57 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 38cm (21st December) November 2017 snowfall 188cm reported on 11 days December 2017 snowfall 406cm reported on 27 days January 2018 snowfall 156cm reported on 19 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.