Yuzawa Now: Sunday 16th February 2014
- Feb 16, 2014
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 32cm
Snowfall at base this season 577cm
Posted on Sunday 16th February 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Yesterday was one of those days for sure.
Heavy snow, strong winds at times, blocked roads, shut down trains and roads... both train and road connections (including Route 17 which was blocked in the Mikuni area due to a snowslide I believe) to Tokyo were cut off for large parts of yesterday preventing people from getting here - and leaving as well.
It looks like the Kanetsu Expressway is still closed this morning to Yuzawa. The Shinkansen seems to be moving but some trains cancelled and some later than usual, so we are not back to normal yet.
So yes it was really coming down hard in the morning in particular and I reckon by the end of the day there was at least another 30cm for me to move. Overnight it had eased off as there's only a few more cm this morning. (So I'm going to put 32cm for the new snowfall town area today including what we got yesterday). We've had well over 50cm that's for sure and in some places I would expect considerably more.
The bottom line is that wherever you choose to ski today, you'll find lots of fresh snow.
But choice is more limited than normal. Yesterday evening Kagura were warning that only part would be open again today due to avalanche risk in places, but they are actually 100% closed this morning - citing strong wind as the reason and those winds up to 20m/s. Naeba is only having a limited opening this morning.
I see that GALA Yuzawa is also closed for the day due to the wind conditions up there.
Other lifts may be affected but I can't see any major news at the moment.... resorts lower down and at town level seem to be open.
So this morning... it is snowing now, but actually seems much wetter than the snow we had yesterday. It is actually above zero degrees as well now, which explains that, currently +1C. Snowy conditions likely to continue into tomorrow.
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Official resort snow depths @ Sunday 16th February 2014, AM:
Some not updated for the day yet
Naeba:
250cm
Kagura (Tashiro):
280cm
Kagura (Mitsumata):
330cm
NASPA Ski Garden:
270cm
Gala Yuzawa:
330cm
Iwappara:
260cm
Yuzawa Kogen:
320cm
Yuzawa Nakazato:
230cm
Yuzawa Park:
220cm
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Maiko Snow Resort:
320cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama:
300cm
Joetsu Kokusai:
250cm
Yuzawa Now 2013-2014 season |
Data as of Sunday 16th February 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 577cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 45 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (11th and 13th January) November 2013 snowfall 5cm reported on 1 day December 2013 snowfall 131cm reported on 14 days January 2014 snowfall 297cm reported on 19 days February 2014 snowfall 144cm reported on 11 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.