Yuzawa Now: Tuesday 10th January 2017
- Jan 10, 2017
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 173cm
Posted on Tuesday 10th January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Yesterday it continued to be a case of ‘snow up top and rain in town’ in the region.
And look at what Kagura are reporting this morning - 20cm of fresh snow at Mitsumata and a very nice 30-40cm of fresh snowfall at the main Kagura area and Tashiro. With that news, I imagine that there should be a nice new layer of snow at other higher areas as well. I know where I would be heading if it was a ski day for me!
I'm posting my report this morning from nearby NASPA Ski Garden close to the town centre where light snow is currently falling and there's lots of cloud around. There has been a dusting of snow overnight down here at town level.
Snow is due to ease off leaving us with a mostly cloudy day but should be back later on.
It was on the news last night that out of 55 ski hills in Niigata Prefecture, only 36 (if I remember correctly) are able to be open “as normal” at this stage in the season. That’s a really worrying situation to be in on 10th January and I'm guessing that it is a similar situation in many regions of Japan (especially on Honshu).
But within the next few days things do look set to change considerably. The forecast is still there for some heavy snowfall, and that should be starting sometime around tonight/tomorrow and with the most promising snowfall apparently due Friday-Sunday). Hopefully this is going to be a real sustained blast of winter with a lot of snow falling both on the mountainsides and in town. And be more like what we are used to in these parts. I must admit to being really very tired of having to talking about rain. It just feels so wrong!
The forecast looks like this could be a real turning point of the season. Let’s hope so!
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Resort-specific info as of Monday 9th January 2017
Apologies for not being able to update the information this morning
GALA Yuzawa
The South Area is now open with the Batman and Eliza courses available.
13 courses are open in total as well as the sledding area.
Official snow depth: 160cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Lifts from all three base areas are operating and most course areas are available.
Official snow depth: 80cm
Iwappara
Iwappara is now mostly open. 9 lifts and 17 courses are available.
Official snow depth: 55cm
Joetsu Kokusai
21 lifts are operating and 17 courses are open.
Official snow depth: 50cm
Kagura
All areas of Kagura are open.
Official snow depth:
Kagura - 190cm
Mitsumata - 170cm
Tashiro - 150cm
Kandatsu Kogen
Kandatsu Kogen is now 'fully open'. (Note that Milky Way and Andromeda courses are open only on weekends and holidays).
Official snow depth: 120cm
Maiko Snow Resort
All lifts now operating as planned and most courses are available.
Official snow depth:
Upper - 130cm
Base - 20cm
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
All lifts are now operating and all main courses now open.
Official snow depth: 100cm
Naeba
All lifts and areas now open. Please see Naeba Now report for more specific details.
Official snow depth: 100cm
NASPA Ski Garden
NASPA Ski Garden is open. All lifts are operating and all courses (apart from the mogul course) are open.
Official snow depth: 90cm
Yuzawa Kogen
All lifts operating and all courses open.
Official snow depth:
Top - 120cm
Base - 50cm
Yuzawa Park
Yuzawa Park is now fully open.
Official snow depth: 50cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
Yuzawa Nakazato is open with all lifts operating.
Official snow depth: 65cm
Yuzawa Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Tuesday 10th January 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 173cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 19 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 26cm (11th and 30th December) November 2016 snowfall 2cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 144cm reported on 14 days January 2017 snowfall 27cm reported on 4 days |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. 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.