Niseko Now: Wednesday 6th January 2016
- Jan 6, 2016
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 343cm
Posted on Wednesday 6th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
This morning there's 15cm of fresh snowfall outside my place here in Hirafu. It's mostly just cloudy at the moment though it was snowing earlier and may well be soon again. Perhaps it will be one of those days when it's on-off snowfall. The fresh snow that we have this morning looks like good stuff as well - nice and dry and light - so it should be a very fine start out on the mountain.
I don't always check but it looks from the webcam like people were starting to gather at the Ace Number 2 lift since before 8am when I started putting this report together - first lifts up have that certain allure don't they, especially when there's fresh snow to play in. I hope they took a flask of hot tea and some onigiri for the wait.
Fairly light wind this morning here at base though Niseko Annupuri and Niseko Village seem to be reporting stronger winds (14m/s) on their upper areas. Still, all four of the resort areas appear to be opening as normal at the start of the day. Hopefully we'll see no lift disruption due to wind conditions -- like we had with some lifts at times during the day yesterday.
The weekly forecast remains pretty much unchanged so we are expecting regular and consistent snowfall through the coming week. It might get even colder over the weekend so come prepared. One thing that can spoil a day for me is being too cold.
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It's now 8:30am and I am just about to post this report. Thought I would mention that I can see a bit of blue sky out there now and the sun is breaking through in places. It should be a good morning, hope you can enjoy it.
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After that really great end to the year with that run of five days when I was able to report 20+cm of fresh each day, it's been a generally more modest but respectable start to January. Including today I have observed 38cm since we entered 2016. Remember, last year I observed 257cm for the whole of the month of January 2015, and I observed 461cm for the whole of the month of January 2014.
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Niseko Avalanche Report:
Niseko base 6am: -7℃, light wind, 10cm of new snow and no snowdrift development. Moiwa 800m: -8℃, 10cm snowfall, moderate development of snowdrift. Annupuri 1150m: -11℃, W12-15m/s, 40cm of snowdrifts. Hirafu 1000m: -10℃, 10cm snowfall, moderate development of snowdrifts. Coastal data: Benkei cape WNW13m/s, Kamui cape SW12m/s, 1015hPa, 2.1m waves.
There are no notable snow-clouds around Niseko area. All top gates except gates 1 & 2 In Annupuri are scheduled to open today. Listen to the patrol’s instruction before stepping out of the gates and be aware that you are going out of bounds at your own risk. Consequences can be more severe than you expect, better not take the winter mountains too easy.
Do not cut across cornice slopes or knolls. Keep ample spacing between riders and ride one by one. Avalanches run along the valleys, stay away from the valley bottom. Snow is still insufficient and the creeks are still running fast. Many holes are still present, be careful not to fall. Please don’t take beginners in hazardous areas such as the Backbowl, leaders are responsible for the whole group’s safety. Have you turned your beacon on? Have a nice day.
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Official resort snow depths as of Wednesday 6th January 2016:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 260cm
Base - 120cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 190cm
Base - 100cm
Niseko Annupuri:
Top - 130cm
Base - 100cm
Niseko Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Wednesday 6th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 343cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 26 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 24cm (26th and 28th December) November 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 4 days December 2015 snowfall 244cm reported on 17 days January 2016 snowfall 38cm reported on 5 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.