Niseko Now: Monday 4th December 2017
- Dec 4, 2017
- 6 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 5cm
Snowfall at base this season 237cm
Posted on Monday 4th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
I have a long report this morning - please do read it all, I don't want it to be a waste of my time!
First of all, the snow and weather report.
Yesterday was a little warmer than we have been experiencing of late and this morning I have an additional 5cm to add to the reports.
It is a really very lovely morning here in Niseko. I know 'lots of fresh fluffy dry snow' is the most lovely kind of morning; but this morning it's the 'sunny blue skies' kind of lovely. We haven't had many of those in recent weeks, so it's good to see everywhere looking all wintery in the sunshine. Beautiful. I want to get out there!
Happily, it's colder again this morning.
And these clear sunny skies won't last long. Actually, since I started putting this report together I feel there's a bit more cloud starting to gather. More cloud is due to move in during the day and it should be snowing once again by the end of tonight. Yey!
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A look back at the season so far: November 2017
As usual this season I will endeavour to post a recap at the beginning of each month so that I can gather my thoughts and make some comparisons. There’s often more behind simple numbers, of course, but it’s always fun to see how the season is shaping up compared with previous ones.
Firstly, let’s look at how much snowfall I have measured myself here near the base of Hirafu over the last six years in November:
November 2017: 188cm
November 2016: 110cm
November 2015: 61cm
November 2014: 30cm
November 2013: 123cm
November 2012: 118cm
Early this season is looking very good!
Check out November 2014. What the heck was going on there!? Rubbish.
BUT... a quick look at my own archives (below) shows how December 2014 came back in style with some very big snowfall numbers – even making the total snow haul up until the end of December that year the most in recent seasons. Omoshiroi ne!
Looking a bit deeper at November 2017 - the numbers themselves look great, but what has been really great this year so far is how consistent the snowfall has been since the middle of November. Since November 13th, I have been able to add fresh cm of snowfall on 13 different days.
Nice.
Here’s how much snowfall I have recorded in the month of December over the last 5 seasons. The numbers in brackets show the total snowfall observed up until the end of December in each season.
December 2016: 181cm (293cm)
December 2015: 244cm (308cm)
December 2014: 519cm (549cm)
December 2013: 275cm (398cm)
December 2012: 418cm (538cm)
That’s a big range – from just under 2m last season to just over 5m in 2014. It’s going to be fun to see how much the total will be come the end of this month. I’ve already recorded 49cm of snowfall in these first few days of December, so it’s a good start to the month.
Lastly, let’s take a look at the data that the Japan Meteorological Agency report from their observation station in Kutchan town:
November 2017: 169cm
November 2016: 171cm
November 2015: 35cm
November 2014: 41cm
November 2013: 99cm
November 2012: 98cm
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And here's something else I prepared yesterday.
One person sent some interesting comments to me via SnowJapan regarding general ‘excitement’ for the season, and how he has observed how some folk (not me, happily) are somewhat conveniently re-writing what happened in previous seasons.
Here’s my thoughts on that.
If you have been reading my reports over the last few weeks, you’ll know that yes, I’m pretty excited about what is currently being served up this early season here in Niseko. It has undoubtedly been an excellent start to the season. What’s not to be happy about there.
It seems though that some people are starting to borderline bad-mouth previous seasons when – at the time - they were hyping them up as being ‘Epic’ etc. Suddenly what was totally 'Epic' has now been degraded to being much less so, to make this season seem all the better. I have heard a few people around town saying things like that, but can’t say that I am really surprised. Excitement is good, but hype and marketing are different things. I think you’ll find that most people who are selling Niseko are going to be pretty much always talking things up at any given time; I suppose it goes with the territory and is understandable. Unfortunately, sometimes it becomes really difficult to know what is hype and what is genuine excitement.
Happily, I am totally against the concept of serving up any kind of hype and marketing to you in these reports. If anything, I probably have a tendency to try and kick back against that. And anyway, I don’t have anything to sell to you either (neither does SnowJapan). So basically, if you sense me being excited, you can be pretty sure that I am genuinely excited and have real reason to be.
Apart from the issue of misleading people, if everything is relentlessly being reported as ‘Epic’ (insert other Capitalised Adjective) all of the time - even when things aren’t actually really all that 'Epic' - what happens when things really are genuinely ‘Epic’?
Well, enough of that for now.
Let me just end my rather long report today by saying congratulations to the folk who took a bit of a gamble to be here at the very start of the season. They’re probably the ones with the biggest grins!
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -5℃, light dusts, calm. Moiwa800m: -6℃, light breeze, 15cm snowfall and no notable snowdrift development. Annupuri1000m: 135cm snowpack. Coastal data: Benkei cape NW9m/s, Kamui cape WSW2m/s, 1018hPa, 0.9m waves.
The isobars are spread out and the weather is calm. A warm-front snowfall is blanketing the snowpack and will become a potential sliding layer in the future snowpack. The present snowpack above 800m is stable and the avalanche risk is low. The snow is in good shape, but a bit heavy and easy to have skis getting caught. Beware of hitting trees and falling into streams as they’re not fully buried and water flow is still high.
Avalanches in Niseko are mostly caused by the collapsing of storm-affected snowdrifts. Hazard level rises also during heavy snowfall caused by passing low-pressure systems. The snow condition is ever changing. Using caution, especially during poor weather, will reduce the risks of accidents.
The Niseko Rules are implemented in order to protect the freedom and the safety of out of bounds riding, and all resort users must abide by those rules.
Have a nice day.
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Monday 4th December 2017
What's planned to be open today in Niseko (subject to change):
Niseko Grand Hirafu
Lifts operating:
- Ace Number 3 Pair lift
- Ace Number 2 Center Four quad lift
- Ace Family quad lift
- King Number 3 quad lift
- Hirafu Gondola
- Holiday Number 1 pair lift
- Swinging Monkey
Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Lifts operating:
- Hanazono Number 1 quad lift
- Hanazono Number 2 quad lift
- Hanazono Number 3 quad lift
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Lifts operating:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Jumbo Number 1 quad lift
- Dream Number 1 quad lift
Niseko Village
Lifts operating:
- Niseko Gondola
- Banzai Chair
- Community Chair
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Official resort snow depths on Monday 4th December 2017:
Niseko Grand Hirafu & Hanazono
Top - 190cm
Base - 90cm
Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Top - 140cm
Base - 70cm
Niseko Village
Top - 135cm
Base - 70cm
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Floodlit 'nighta' skiing schedule:
Saturday 9th December 2017 until Sunday 18th March 2018
Niseko Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Monday 4th December 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 237cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 15 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 29cm (20th November) November 2017 snowfall 188cm reported on 11 days December 2017 snowfall 49cm reported on 4 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.