Niseko Now: Friday 31st January 2020
- Jan 31, 2020
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 516cm
Posted on Friday 31st January 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
Good morning on this last one of January 2020, and it is another windy one.
We were hoping for a bit more snow on the ground but it is just a dusting here at base this morning and not enough to pass my highly scientific rules and allow m to post a cm.
There is some very light snow falling in places as I put this report together, but it's not significant and I can only just see it! There is also some breaks in the cloud and blue sky in places too. So a bit of a mixed picture early on.
It is a little colder than yesterday but not much.
Wind is an issue today again and at the start of the day all of top lifts across the mountain are on hold. Only the base Jumbo lift at Niseko Annupuri, the base lift at Hanazono and two base area lifts at Niseko Village are open in those areas. A bit more of Hirafu looks to be opening at the start of the day including the gondola. That situation might of course change depending on the wind conditions during the day.
Hopefully wind will not make itself a nuisance over the coming weekend.
I am liking the look of the forecast for around late Monday onwards - there's some serious cold and snow lined up there. Hurray!
I will do my usual 'season until now' thoughts/recap and post it in the report on Monday.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base: -0.6℃, slight snowfall. Moiwa 800m: WSW 244°4.4m/s, -4.3℃. Yu no Sawa 1000m: NNE 35°9.4m/s, -6.6℃. Village 900m: N 356°6.7m/s, -5.8℃. Hirafu 1000m: N 2°12.2m/s, -6.8℃. Hanazono 720m: NNW 351°5.5m/s, -4.6℃. Benkei cape: ENE13m/s, Kamui cape: NE10m/s, 999hPa, 4.4m waves.
The recorded wind speed is the average of 15 min intervals. Instant gusts are a lot stronger today. A strong north easterly wind is blowing around the rim of the current “oval” shape low-pressure system. Although the snowfall is scarce, heavy snowdrifts are developing; reaching up to 60cm at some places and are very unstable. SW facing knolls, cornice slopes and open steep terrains above 800m are at high avalanche risk today. It’s better staying inbounds today. Most gates will be kept closed. Many of the accidents occur in poor weather. Highly wind-affected snowfall forms heavy slabs and are likely to cause a slide. Better not push it too far during bad weather conditions.
Have a nice day.
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Niseko Grand Hirafu
Official snow depth (reported by resort):
- Peak: 230cm
- Base: 85cm
All lifts are normally operating EXCEPT:
- Ace Number 1 pair lift (normally rested)
- King Number 2 quad lift (normally rested)
All courses normally open
Lifts scheduled for late operations:
- Ace Family quad until 8:30pm
- Ace Number 2 Center Four quad until 8:20pm
- Hirafu Gondola until 8:10pm
- Holiday Number 1 pair until 8:30pm
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official snow depth (reported by resort):
- Peak: 164cm
- Base: 92cm
All lifts are normally operating
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Niseko Annupuri
Official snow depth (reported by resort):
- Peak: 160cm
- Base: 100cm
All lifts are normally operating
Lift scheduled for late operations:
- Jumbo Number 1 quad until 8:30pm
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Niseko Village
Official snow depth (reported by resort):
- Peak: 175cm
- Base: 100cm
All lifts normally operating EXCEPT:
- Country Road (normally rested)
Lifts scheduled for late operations:
- Annupuri Village Gondola until 8:00pm
- Village Express until 8:00pm
- Banzai Chair until 8:00pm
Niseko Now 2019-2020 season |
Data as of Friday 31st January 2020 Total snowfall at base so far 516cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 51 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 33cm (21st January) November 2019 snowfall 85cm reported on 10 days December 2019 snowfall 207cm reported on 21 days January 2020 snowfall 224cm reported on 20 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.