Niseko Now: Thursday 3rd January 2013
- Jan 3, 2013
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 16, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 581cm
Weather overview Cloud cover, snow
Wind
OK
Temperature -8C base / -14C top
Visibility Fair
Posted at 9:22am on Thursday 3rd January 2013 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
We ended up with some fine weather yesterday. We are back to snow and wind this morning - there's another 15-20cm of snow to report in Niseko this morning and once again a similar temperature.
Early on the top lifts at each resort are not operating due to the wind (Jumbo Number 4 at Annupuri; Wonderland Chair at Niseko Village; Ace Number 4 and King Number 4 at Niseko Grand Hirafu; and Hanazono Number 3 at Niseko Hanazono). A few more lifts are running at reduced speed.
Visibility is not too bad out there at the moment even with the snow falling. In fact, just now there was a quick and cheeky appearance of the sun from behind the clouds, but it was only for a short time. If the forecasts are correct, it should be snowing for the day and tomorrow as well. Perhaps get a bit colder too.
Let's take a look at those JMA snowfall numbers for Kutchan in December 2012. The final number for the month was an impressive 306cm. So not quite the 349cm of December 2011 but more than the previous five Decembers. Some excellent conditions out there again and for the most part I don't think there'll be many complaints from the people who chose the early season.
By my calculations we have now probably had over 6m of snow fall here in the Hirafu village area since the first snowfall of the season. Sounds good to me!
Niseko Now 2012-2013 season |
Data as of Thursday 3rd January 2013 Total snowfall at base so far 581cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 41 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (10th, 11th, 19th December) November 2012 snowfall 118cm reported on 11 days December 2012 snowfall 418cm reported on 27 days January 2013 snowfall 45cm reported on 3 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.