Yuzawa Now: Thursday 15th December 2016
- Dec 15, 2016
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 24cm
Snowfall at base this season 77cm
Posted on Thursday 15th December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
It's a very good morning here in Yuzawa.
We have a decent amount of fresh snow on the ground and also things are looking good for ski resort openings over the next few days.
Yes, the wet conditions yesterday turned into snowy conditions later in the afternoon and this morning there's 20cm of fresh snow on the ground outside SnowJapan HQ here just to the north of Yuzawa, and 24cm at our Yuzawa measuring point.
Maiko Snow Resort have announced that they will be opening from tomorrow (Friday), and they'll announce exactly what will be open in terms of lifts and courses later on today - though depending on how much snow falls it may just be the top Okusoeji bowl area via the Gondola.
Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai have said that they are both now planning towards opening from Saturday. Muica Snow Resort was hoping to open from tomorrow but has delayed that for the moment and no word from Yuzawa Park just yet (they were also aiming for Friday). Then there's the whole bunch of places that were hoping to open from Saturday...
Exactly how much snow falls over the next few days is obviously going to have a big affect on what opens up by the weekend, but it is snowing right now still and snow is forecast for the day tomorrow as well - so it's all looking promising.
If you look back over the archive reports, you'll notice that this time last year we were still waiting to record the first snow on the ground here in town, so we are definitely enjoying a more promising start to the season. Exciting times!
We'll have a clearer idea on the situation tomorrow morning and I will of course update you with the latest.
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Resort-specific info as of Thursday 15th December 2016
Ski resorts that are currently open in the region:
Kagura
All areas of Kagura are now open. The top Kagura Number 5 pair lift and course will open from 1st January 2017.
The resort is reporting 15cm of fresh snow at Tashiro, 20cm at Mitsumata and 20-30cm at the main Kagura area.
Official snow depth:
Kagura - 120cm
Mitsumata - 80cm
Tashiro - 100cm
Naeba
A few of the lower slopes of Naeba are open.
Official snow depth: 60cm
Planned opening dates for other resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date):
Opening as soon as there is enough snow:
Iwappara
Joetsu Kokusai
Maiko Snow Resort
Muica Snow Resort
Yuzawa Park
Saturday 17th December:
GALA Yuzawa
Kandatsu Kogen
Ludens Yuzawa
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
Nakazato Snow Wood
Yuzawa Kogen
Yuzawa Nakazato
Wednesday 21st December:
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Thursday 22nd December:
NASPA Ski Garden
Friday 23rd December:
Chateau Shiozawa
Ipponsugi
Itsukamachi
Saturday 24th December:
Hakkai Sanroku
Mt Granview
Wednesday 28th December:
Ishiuchi Hanaoka
Yuzawa Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Thursday 15th December 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 77cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 7 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 26cm (11th December) November 2016 snowfall 2cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 75cm 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 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.