Niseko Now: Friday 7th February 2014
- Feb 7, 2014
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 938cm
Posted on Friday 7th February 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
And it's another cold morning in Niseko with 15cm or so of fresh snow down here in my Hirafu village base.
I was told that it was clearer again earlier on this morning, but a bit of a late start for me today and now it is cloud and... yes, you guessed it... snowing, albeit lightly at the moment. Snow showers for the day seems to be the forecast.
Saturday tomorrow of course and we might get some sunshine and a break from the snow clouds. It will remain cold though and we should be returning to snow on Sunday. It's never that far away mid season!
It should be a good day.
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Niseko base 6am: -10C, 15cm new snow crystals in last 12 hrs. Moiwa 800m: -14C,calm, cm snow, snowdrift development. Annupuri 150m: -18, calm. Hirafu 1000m: -13C, calm. Annupuri peak 1308m: -18.6C, wind WNW8.7m/s. Cape Benkei: wind NNW14m/s, Cape Kamui: wind W9m/s, wave 1.9m, pressure 1019hpa.
The winter weather pattern has calmed and isobars moved apart and snow drifts are beginning to stabilise. From observation snow is stable under 800m and avalanche risk is begiining to fall, but Kozan no sawa 1100m, Osawa 1000m and HigashiOne cornice slope the risk continues.
Peak gates are expected to open this morning, but please listen to the patrols advice before leaving. Outside the gate is not the ski area and everybody is responsible for themselves. Don't rest at the bottom of steep slopes, in gullies or on slopes under cornices. Dont traverse steep slope and trigger avalanche, there are many people on the mountain and can easily bury them below.
Around 1000m there is the possibility to trigger slab avalanche by skier stimulation on Feb 6th layer due to delayed stabilisation from the cold weather. Snow is great have a safe day.
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Official snow depth numbers and lift news at time of writing:
Grand Hirafu / Hanazono:
Top - 390cm
Base - 200cm
Niseko Village:
Top - 350cm
Base - 230cm
Annupuri:
Top - 305cm
Base - 220cm
Niseko Now 2013-2014 season |
Data as of Friday 7th February 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 938cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 67 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (14th January) November 2013 snowfall 123cm reported on 9 days December 2013 snowfall 275cm reported on 22 days January 2014 snowfall 461cm reported on 29 days February 2014 snowfall 79cm reported on 7 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.