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Nozawa Now: Wednesday 20th December 2017

  • Dec 20, 2017
  • 2 min read

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


New snowfall at base 7cm
Snowfall at base this season 148cm

Posted on Wednesday 20th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Nozawa Now report can be found here.


There's more sunshine and blue sky over the region early this morning. It's cold too with the thermometer showing -4C outside just before. It should warm up a bit and get into low positive numbers by this afternoon.


The resort is reporting 20cm of snowfall up on the top areas since yesterday from the snow that started falling in the afternoon yesterday. Not as much down below.


It is looking like we might have to wait until Christmas Day on Monday for the next delivery of fresh snowfall; though what Santa-san plans to bring us does look promising. Before then though we can expect a fair bit of sunshine - and milder conditions - if the forecasts are correct. Let's hope it doesn't warm up too much.


In the meantime, plenty of snow to enjoy with most of the resort already open.


All lifts operating except the following:


- Mizunashi triple

- Challenge pair

- Utopia pair

- Kandahar pair

- Karasawa pair


All courses now at least part open except the following:


- Challenge 39 wall

- Utopia B

- Mukobayashi

- Grand Prix

- Hachiman

- Kandahar


Fresh snowfall (as reported by the resort):


- Yamabiko (1407m): 21cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 20cm

- Hikage (660m): -cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 23cm

- Karasawa (563m): -cm


Official snow depth numbers:


- Yamabiko (1407m): 175cm

- Uenotaira (1230m): 160cm

- Hikage (660m): 110cm

- Nagasaka (615m): 90cm

- Karasawa (563m): 80cm



Nozawa Now 2017-2018 season

Data as of Wednesday 20th December 2017 Total snowfall at base 148cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 41cm (14th December) November 2017 snowfall 21cm reported on 2 days December 2017 snowfall 127cm reported on 10 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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