Niseko Now: Sunday 31st March 2024
- Mar 31, 2024
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 879cm
Posted on Sunday 31st March 2024 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
We have fresh snow on this last day of March. Early morning there was just under 2cm of it at my measuring point, with Hirafu reporting 5cm on the mountain. Hurray!
Moving cloud, some blue sky and some sun as of 8:15am.
I am happy to report that all lifts appear to be opening as planned too.
A shout out and sincere thank you and respect to the people behind the Avalanche Reports as they post their last one for the season today (below). Taihen otsukarsama deshita!
From tomorrow, it's just me. I'll be putting my thoughts together for my monthly review today, and will post that tomorrow.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain Base 6am: +2°, 1.5cm new snow, calm. Moiwa 800m/Mikaeri 764m:-n/a. Annupuri 1100m: -6.1°, WNW6.8m/s. Village 1000m: -4.8°, WNW4.6m/s. Hanazono 1000m: -5.3°, NE2.3m/s. Hanazono 3 : -2.1°, NNW0.0m/s. Coastal data: Benkei Cape: WNW7m/s. Kamui Cape: WSW9m/s, 1005hPa, wave 1.0m.
Some weak snow clouds passed through overnight with light snowfall top to bottom. The isobar lines are spaced widely, winds are light and there has been no significant snowdrift development. Clear skies are expected today and peak gates are planned to be open. Watch out for shallow avalanches above 1000m, they can easily take you for a slide. Surface avalanches up to 10cm deep may occur over wide areas on Kozan no Sawa(Back Bowl) side walls. There is also an increased risk of full depth avalanches on steep sidewall slopes around 1100m. Avoid going into the bottoms of valleys, as these are avalanche paths. Avalanches are a natural phenomenon, if there is nobody present, no accidents happen. This information is provided for the safety of ski resort users when skiing out of bounds in Niseko.
This is the final Avalanche Report for the 23/24 season. Thank you to everyone who respected the Niseko Rules over the winter.
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Individual ski area information for Sunday 31st March 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.
Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 5cm
- Base: 0cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 295cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 60cm (-5cm since yesterday)
Planned closing date (subject to conditions):
- Monday 6th May 2024
Lifts (scheduled):
- The Ace Number 3 pair, Ace Number 4 pair, King Number 1 pair, King Number 2 quad lifts are closed
- Last lift closes at 4:30pm
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 3cm
- Base: 2cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 240cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 140cm (no change since yesterday)
Planned closing date (subject to conditions):
- Sunday 7th April 2024
Lifts (scheduled):
- All lifts are open
- Last lift closes at 4:00pm
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 250cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 115cm (no change since yesterday)
Planned closing date (subject to conditions):
- Monday 6th May 2024
Lifts (scheduled):
- All lifts operating apart from the Jumbo Number 2 and Number 3 pair lifts
- Last lift closes at 4:30pm
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 210cm (-4cm since yesterday)
- Base: 105cm (-8cm since yesterday)
Planned closing date (subject to conditions):
- Sunday 7th April 2024
Lifts (scheduled):
- All lifts operating apart from the Morino Chair and Wonderland Chair
- Last lift closes at 4:30pm
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Planned closing date (subject to conditions):
- Sunday 7th April 2024
Lifts (scheduled):
- Number 1 and Number 2 pair lifts are operating
- Last lift closes at 3:30pm
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Night skiing has now finished for the 2023-2024 season.
Niseko Now 2023-2024 season |
Data as of Sunday 31st March 2024 Total snowfall at base so far 879cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 92 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 298cm reported on 24 days February 2024 snowfall 144cm reported on 20 days March 2024 snowfall 70cm reported on 13 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.