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Nozawa Now: Wednesday 16th December 2020

  • Dec 16, 2020
  • 2 min read

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


New snowfall at base 28cm
Snowfall at base this season 58cm

Posted on Wednesday 16th December 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Nozawa Now report can be found here.


Nozawa Onsen is this morning reporting a whopping 70cm of snowfall on the upper Yamabiko area since yesterday morning (with 60cm of that since 3pm yesterday); also, 43cm on Uenotaira.


Very nice!


And we're not done yet. Lots of snow is still there on the forecasts, perhaps even through until early next week.


People coming to ski and board are going to be richly rewarded with all of this snow, while many locals are busy trying to just deal with it all.


The thought of more coming over the next few days is... it's complicated! But ultimately, of course, very welcome and we a wonderful start to the season in terms of snowfall.


There seems to be one or more trees fallen due to snow along the Gondola lift route. As of 8am the resort is checking for safety and there is a delay in opening this morning. Hopefully they will be able to get moving soon.


Fresh snowfall recorded by the resort (since yesterday morning):

- Yamabiko (1407m): 70cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 43cm

- Hikage (660m): -cm (not reporting yet)

- Nagasaka (615m): -cm (not reporting yet)

- Karasawa (563m): -cm (not reporting yet)


Official snow depth numbers (reported by the ski area):


- Yamabiko (1407m): 110cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 90cm

- Hikage (660m): -cm

- Nagasaka (615m): -cm

- Karasawa (563m): -cm


Planned operating lifts:


- Nagasaka Gondola (8:30am - 5:30pm; last one down at 4pm)

- Yamabiko Four quad lift (8:45am - 3:30pm)

- Yamabiko Number 2 Four quad lift (8:40am - 3:40pm)

- Uenotaira Four quad lift (8:50am - 3:40pm)


Courses currently open:


- Yamabiko A-E courses (5200m total length)

- Uenotaira Course (2000m)

- Uenotaira cross country course (2km)



Nozawa Now 2020-2021 season

Data as of Wednesday 16th December 2020 Total snowfall at base 58cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (16th December) November 2020 snowfall 0cm December 2020 snowfall 58cm reported on 3 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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