Yuzawa Now: Monday 18th January 2016
- Jan 18, 2016
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 130cm
Posted on Monday 18th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Nature really isn't making these reports easy this season, that's for sure!
Yesterday ended up looking quite moody really with thin almost hazy like clouds and the sun sort of visible behind them for lots of the day. Then there was even a few times when some very light snow was falling in places.
Come late night and... it was raining down in town. Snow in Tokyo and rain in Yuzawa? That just isn't right!
Anyway, come this morning and high up at Kagura they are reporting 10-15cm of new snowfall up there this morning and Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 5-15cm. So it looks like higher areas have had a fairly decent new layer of snow.
Just earlier it was still raining/wet sleet/wet snow in town but things seem to be picking up and just as I started writing this it started to snow quite heavily. But hold on, as I am about to post the report it has stopped and it's more like sleet again.
The reason I have waited until 10am today is so that I can bring you the latest forecast for Niigata prefecture that they issue (at 10am) telling us how much snow to expect. For Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma area they are saying just 2-3cm from now until 4pm today, so it doesn't look like they are expecting this snow to continue like it is just now. Hopefully they are wrong - they have been quite a lot this season so far!
It is quite mild though this morning with a high of around 5C forecast for the middle of the day.
Heavy and consistent snowfall is still expected to be on the way this week with Wednesday being the day that we should get the most.
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Strong winds are preventing the Kagura and Tashiro areas of the Kagura resort from opening this morning - it's just the Mitsumata area open for the moment, though they may open up part of Kagura if the conditions improve. Tashiro is closed for the day.
It looks like it's windy up at GALA Yuzawa as well and while they are open they are operating lifts at a slower than usual speed this morning.
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Resort official snow depths (Monday 18th January 2016) and any specific news:
All resorts in the area are now generally open for the season, though please note that some areas and courses are not yet open.
Generally some steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy, to varying degrees.
Resorts in Yuzawa:
GALA Yuzawa
120cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
80cm
Iwappara
40cm
Joetsu Kokusai
80cm
Kagura
90cm (Mitsumata)
120cm (Tashiro)
150cm (Kagura)
Kandatsu Kogen
90-110cm
Maiko Snow Resort
90cm (upper)
20cm (lower)
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
80cm
Naeba
70cm
NASPA Ski Garden
60cm
Yuzawa Kogen
90cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
60cm
Yuzawa Park
40cm
Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Monday 18th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 130cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 16 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (28th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 38cm reported on 9 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.