Niseko Now: Friday 27th February 2015
- Feb 27, 2015
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 992cm
Posted on Friday 27th February 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Hello and good morning from Hirafu. Just another small amount of fresh snow this morning, around 5cm outside my place. It feels a bit warmer too and the snow quality is reflected by that - bit wet.
Looking at the report below there's a fairly decent amount to be found higher up so head up there for the goods.
Stronger winds likely later in the day and temperatures drop. It looks like even at 8:45am as I am about to post this, the top lifts at Annupuri, Village and Grand Hirafu are stopped because of the wind.
Anyway, hopefully I will have more snow to report tomorrow morning for you.
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If you take a look down this page at that pretty little table of statistics, you'll see that this season so far we are on 992cm of observed snowfall, compared with 1037cm last season at the end of February.
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Resort specific news as of 8:45am - subject to change during the day
Niseko Grand Hirafu:
Top King Number 4 and Ace Number 4 lifts on hold.
Niseko Hanazono:
Looks set to be open as planned.
Niseko Village:
Top Wonderland lift on hold.
Niseko Annupuri:
Top Jumbo Number 4 lift on hold.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Niseko base 6am: +1C, 20cm of wet snow in last 12 hrs. Moiwa 800m: SW10m/s, 30-40cm of new snow and snowdrift development, -4C. Annupuri 1150m: SW15m/s, 20cm new snowfall, snowdrift development, -7C. Hirafu 1000m: SW15m/s, blizzard conditions, snowdrift development -6C. Annupuri peak 1150m: wind SW speed not avail, -6.0℃. Cape Benkei: SW3m/s, Cape Kamui: SSW12m/s, pressure 997hPa, wave 0.7m.
Low pressure system has brought warm air into the region with heavy falls of wet snow. From observation, snowdrifts above 1000m are unstable, Osawa, Kozan no sawa, Mikaeri Bowl, below Higashi one(east ridge), will easily fracture at Feb 26th layer, 40-50cm depth. These slabs are heavy and dangerous. All peak gates will closed this morning. Please respect and follow the patrol`s decisions. Cracks are hidden by new snow and cant be seen from above, take care not to fall in head first. Snow in the forest is heavy and hard to push through.
The local business group that was reported recently causing trouble on Niseko and nearby mountains has approached the local council to try and justify their behavior. These people do not even try to understand why there are Niseko Rules, and how they came to be put in place. They show there nativity by thinking they can complain to local government and every thing will be OK. The reason this trouble has started is because this business has the wrong view about what freedom means, overestimates their own experience and knowledge, and do not take any cultural differences into account. The Avalanche Institute is an independent organization who together with the ski area management and local government try to minimize accidents. If someone interferes with our ability to do this, we will react strongly.
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Official resort snow depths:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 415cm
Base - 150cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 300cm
Base - 180cm
Niseko Annupuri:
Top - 370cm
Base - 180cm
Niseko Now 2014-2015 season |
Data as of Friday 27th February 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 992cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 70 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 45cm (15th & 26th December and 11th February) November 2014 snowfall 30cm reported on 5 days December 2014 snowfall 519cm reported on 25 days January 2015 snowfall 257cm reported on 23 days February 2015 snowfall 186cm 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.