Niseko Now: Thursday 25th January 2024
- Jan 25, 2024
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 19cm
Snowfall at base this season 653cm
Posted on Thursday 25th January 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It's snowing quite heavily as I write this at just past 8am and I have a lovely 19cm of fresh to report this morning. Which is more than the ski areas are reporting.
Unfortunately, it's windy too and the wind is almost certainly going to affect top lifts and probably more too. Limited operations at the start of the day. (To avoid confusion I have taken the lift info out of the list below).
Snow is due for the day. (As is the wind!)
Hopefully tomorrow will be calmer; there sure is going to be a lot of people eager to get up to those top areas when they open!
Over the last few days I have seen a few sections on Japanese national TV news about Niseko. It has been fairly predictable kind of content regarding inbound popularity/prices, but interesting all the same. (Well, slightly interesting). I'll put some thoughts together in my January review early next month.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base 6am: -5C, snow storm, snowdrift development. Moiwa 800m: -7.9C, NNW11.7m/s, 30.0m/s at 4am, cornices and snowdrifts rapidly developing. Mikaeri 764m from live camera: -8C, strong drifting snow, snowdrift development increasing. Annupuri 1100m: -10.2C, NNW6.6m/s, strong wind and snow. Village 1000m: -9.0C, NNW5.2m/s. Hirafu Hanazono 1000m: -10.0C, no wind data. Hanazono#3: -7.9℃, NNE9.3m/s. Coastal data: Benkei cape: NNW 16.0m/s, Kamui cape: 13.0m/s, 999hPa, 5.0m waves.
The mountains and seas are experiencing severe weather due to the strong winterly pressure distribution, wave heights in the Japan sea are exceeding 5 metres. From the observation and weather data, reports from ski patrols and groomer operators, the avalanche risk is extremely high at any elevation. All the gates will be closed. Do not duck rope to go out of the gates. It’s more enjoyable to go to an onsen on a day like this. There are days like this. Have a good day.
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Individual ski area information for Thursday 25th January 2024
The below snow depth and snowfall numbers are manually checked each morning from official sources.
Lift information is the planned operations for the day at the time of writing and subject to change.
*** Top lifts and others are on hold at the start of the day due to wind ***
Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 10cm
- Base: 10cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 310cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 130cm (no change since yesterday)
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 0cm
- Base: 10cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 245cm (-5cm since yesterday)
- Base: 185cm (+10cm since yesterday)
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 210cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 180cm (no change since yesterday)
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 236cm (+3cm since yesterday)
- Base: 161cm (+2cm since yesterday)
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Floodlit night skiing is planned daily until Wednesday 20th March 2024.
Night skiing is usually until 7:00pm at Hirafu, Hanazono, Village and until 7:30pm at Annupuri.
Niseko Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Thursday 25th January 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 653cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 56 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 62cm (8th January) November 2023 snowfall 120cm reported on 11 days December 2023 snowfall 247cm reported on 24 days January 2024 snowfall 286cm reported on 21 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.