Niseko Now: Wednesday 8th February 2023
- Feb 8, 2023
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido
New snowfall at base 3cm
Snowfall at base this season 786cm
Posted on Wednesday 8th February 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here
It is snowing as I write this, and some lovely big flakes at times too.
Visibility seems fairly ok from what I can see on the cams. Mostly light snow is due today and into tomorrow.
With just a light wind, all lifts are opening as planned.
The only other thing of note to mention this morning is that Niseko Village are reporting 10cm of fresh snow up top this morning! (Regular readers will know the significance of this).
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Niseko Avalanche Report
Mountain base: -8C, good visibility, light snowfall. Moiwa800m: -8.7C, WSW4.7m/s, light snowfall. Annupuri 1100m: -12.4C, WNW5.8m/s. Mizuno no Sawa top: NNW3.4m/s. Hirafu Hanazono: -12.2C, WNW1.6m/s. Hanazono#3: -8.9C, WSW1.1m/s. Coastal data: Benkei cape NNW6m/s, Kamui cape WNW8m/s, 1019hPa, 0.8m waves.
Light wind and snowfall on the sea and the mountains. Cold air inflow is persisting. The overall avalanche risk is low and the gates will open from the morning. Be prepared for the backcountry when going out of bounds. Do not enter strictly off-limits areas to find fresh tracks. Those south facing steep slopes could slide at any time. Also beware of traversing gullies in the NW facing slopes off of the peak. These slopes are covered in sasa-bamboo and 300cm thick massive glide avalanches reaching down to the road occurred in the past. Make sure to traverse across gullies one by one, keeping a safe distance between each other. Traversing steep sections is dangerous. It is much safer to head westward from around Chinpoko-Rock located around 1050m elevation. Following random tracks could leave you astray, be conscious of your current location. There are no buses back from Goshiki Onsen. This report is issued for accident prevention of Niseko resorts visitors. Have you switched your beacon on? It just started snowing again, beware of variable weather and poor visibility.
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Ski area information for Wednesday 8th February 2023
The below snow depth and snowfall numbers are manually checked each morning from official sources.
Lift information is the planned operations for the day, weather permitting.
Official snow depth numbers in brackets show the change since previous report.
Niseko Tokyu Grand Hirafu
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 10cm
- Base: 10cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 360cm
- Base: 155cm
Lifts:
- Ace Family quad [* open until for 7:00pm for night skiing]
- Ace Number 2 quad (Center Four) [* open until for 7:00pm for night skiing]
- Ace Number 3 pair
- Hirafu Gondola
- Holiday Number 1 pair
- King Number 3 quad
- King Number 4
- Swinging Monkey
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Niseko HANAZONO Resort
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 13cm
- Base: 7cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 302cm (+2cm since yesterday)
- Base: 245cm (no change since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Hanazono Number 1
- Hanazono Number 2 quad
- Hanazono Number 3 quad
- Hanazono Symphony Gondola [* open until 7:00pm for night skiing]
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Niseko Annupuri Kokusai
Official 24 hours snowfall (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 0cm
- Base: 0cm
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 250cm (+10cm since yesterday)
- Base: 170cm (no change since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Annupuri Gondola
- Dream Number 1 quad
- Jumbo Number 1 quad [* open until 7:30pm for night skiing]
- Jumbo Number 2 pair
- Jumbo Number 3 pair [* normally open on weekends and holidays]
- Jumbo Number 4 pair
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Niseko Village Ski Resort
Official snow depth (reported by the ski area):
- Peak: 215cm (no change since yesterday)
- Base: 190cm (no change since yesterday)
Lifts:
- Niseko Gondola
- Upper Village Gondola
- Village Express
- Community Chair [* open until 7:00pm for night skiing]
- Banzai Chair [* open until 7:00pm for night skiing]
- Wonderland Chair
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Niseko Moiwa Ski Resort
Lifts:
- Number 1 pair lift
- Number 2 pair lift
- Quad lift
Niseko Now 2022-2023 season |
Data as of Wednesday 8th February 2023 Total snowfall at base so far 786cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 67 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 24cm (27th & 28th January, 6th February) November 2022 snowfall 17cm reported on 5 days December 2022 snowfall 336cm reported on 27 days January 2023 snowfall 332cm reported on 27 days February 2023 snowfall 101cm reported on 8 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.