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Nozawa Now: Thursday 14th December 2017

  • Dec 14, 2017
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Nozawa Onsen region of Nagano


New snowfall at base 41cm
Snowfall at base this season 88cm

Posted on Thursday 14th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Nozawa Now report can be found here.


Good morning to you from Nozawa.


I bring really great news of Nozawa-like heavy snowfall.


How about this for the amount of new snowfall to expect - as reported by the resort:


- Yamabiko (1407m): 70cm (...and 20cm yesterday afternoon)

- Uenotaira (1230m): 45cm (...and 20cm yesterday afternoon)

- Hikage (660m): 40cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 40cm

- Karasawa (563m): 20cm


That's fresh snow, not snow depth. By my reckoning, that means that the resort is actually reporting a whopping 90cm of fresh snowfall on the upper areas since yesterday morning. Wow.


(And I'm sat here writing about it!!)


With a thick layer of lovely snow down at base areas too, it's going to be an excellent morning out there if you want to brave the conditions.


Surely more of the mountain will open up from the weekend? Stay tuned.


Calmer and clearer conditions are likely for the next few days once things ease off sometime during the day today; with a return to snow by the time Sunday rolls round.


Operating lifts:


- Nagasaka Gondola (8:40am until 3:30pm)

- Yamabiko four lift (9:00am until 3:30pm)

- Yamabiko Number 2 lift (8:55am until 3:40pm)

- Uenotaira four lift (9:00am until 3:40pm)

- * Need to get the gondola back down to base


Planned open courses:


- Yamabiko A

- Yamabiko B

- Yamabiko C

- Yamabiko D

- Yamabiko E

- Uenotaira

- Bunabayashi


Fresh snowfall (as reported by the resort):


- Yamabiko (1407m): 70cm (...and 20cm yesterday afternoon)

- Uenotaira (1230m): 45cm (...and 20cm yesterday afternoon)

- Hikage (660m): 40cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 40cm

- Karasawa (563m): 20cm


Official snow depth numbers:


- Yamabiko (1407m): 140cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 130cm

- Hikage (660m): 65cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 65cm

- Karasawa (563m): 30cm



Nozawa Now 2017-2018 season

Data as of Thursday 14th December 2017 Total snowfall at base 88cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 41cm (14th December) November 2017 snowfall 21cm reported on 2 days December 2017 snowfall 67cm reported on 6 days




All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Nozawa Onsen. 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.


SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for.



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