Niseko Now: Tuesday 26th March 2013
- Mar 26, 2013
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 16, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this season 1448cm
Weather overview Cloud, light to moderate snow
Wind
Moderate
Temperature -9C base / -15C top
Visibility Poor
Posted at 9:27am on Tuesday 26th March 2013 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
This morning I do have some new snowfall to report. About 10cm of it in fact. And it continues to snow now. The snow depth at Niseko Grand Hirafu has gone up again and we are still above 5m. I was just taking a look back at last years reports and it seems that on this day last year that figure was standing at 425cm, so we're doing pretty good I'd say.
Not much of a wind to bother the lifts this morning so we are all open as planned. Temperature hovering around 0 degrees as I write this report this morning.
Tomorrow is likely to be warmer with the sun due to make an appearance.
Some lifts are now closed as the number of people on the slopes decreases:
Niseko Annupuri - Jumbo Number 2 pair and Family pair
Niseko Village - Morino Chair
Niseko Grand Hirafu - Ace 1, King 1, Ace 4
Avalanche Information
Niseko base 6am: -6C, 3cm new snow (broken particles). Moiwa 800m: -7C W5m/s,slight snowdrift growth. Coastal data: wind WNW9m/s, 1.0m waves, pressure 1012hPa. Annupuri peak predicted windspeed at noon: SW10m/s.
Weak westerly system produced some snow overnight, 10cm in Hirafu area. Peak gates are expected to open at 9.30am. Listen to patrols advice before leaving resort area.
Avoid getting caught in large scale spring avalanche, do not ride in valley bottoms. They are predicted to start around 900m-1100m, Kozan no Sawa (BackBowl) sidewall and Osawa(F5) especially.
Beware standing near cornices, they have grown to massive size over the winter and can collapse instantly. Also think about safe zones to wait in.
With rising temperatures shallow avalanches will occur easily on steep slopes. If they fracture over a large area they travel at high speed and are very dangerous. Use caution riding and traversing, travel 1 by 1. This report is issued daily with the hope of making out of bounds riding safer. Have a good day.
Niseko Now 2012-2013 season |
Data as of Tuesday 26th March 2013 Total snowfall at base so far 1448cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 105 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 45cm (27th January) November 2012 snowfall 118cm reported on 11 days December 2012 snowfall 418cm reported on 27 days January 2013 snowfall 443cm reported on 26 days February 2013 snowfall 316cm reported on 24 days March 2013 snowfall 153cm 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.