Yuzawa Now: Sunday 18th May 2025
- May 18, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 hours ago
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this seas 1243cm
Posted on Sunday 18th May 2025 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Today is the last day of operations at Kagura ski area. The ski area is open with 6 lifts operating and 10 courses/runs still available. Kagura is still reporting a snow depth of 150cm up top. Impressive.
From tomorrow, all ski lifts across the region will be able to take a long and well-earned rest. Most ski areas in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City closed 6-7 weeks ago, of course. That feels like such a long time ago!
How was the Yuzawa season this time around? Let’s take a look at some observed snowfall numbers.
November 2024: 0cm
December 2024: 352cm
January 2025: 286cm
February 2025: 549cm
March 2025: 66cm
April 2025: 0cm
2024-2025 season: 1253cm
2023-2024 season: 713cm
2022-2023 season: 795cm
2021-2022 season: 1338cm
2020-2021 season: 1109cm
2019-2020 season: 425cm
2018-2019 season: 1042cm
2017-2018 season: 857cm
2016-2017 season: 954cm
2015-2016 season: 424cm
2014-2015 season: 1303cm
2013-2014 season: 833cm
2012-2013 season: 762cm
The above data is snowfall we observed during each season since 2012. The numbers are comparable - they are observed by the same person from the same location (town level in Yuzawa) and using the same methods. Of course, this is town level, so there will be more snow at higher elevations. Sometimes much more.
It’s a really varied bunch of numbers, isn’t it - ranging from just 424cm (2015-2016 season) to 1338cm (2021-2022 season).
The 1253cm that we observed in our reposts this last season was one of the higher numbers and clearly a very good showing.
We had a bit of a dry period in the second part of January. Still, other than that, we generally enjoyed consistent snowfall from when it started snowing in the second week of December through the end of February. Ski areas were happily able to open and close on their planned dates.
The biggest drama of the season was the snowfall in February, clearly a standout month. A whopping 549cm of snowfall was observed in these reports (on 24 of the 28 days in the month). As it was happening, at times it felt like the snow would never stop... and was somewhat overwhelming. Even people who absolutely love mad bonkers snowfall (like me) were secretly starting to want it to ease off. GALA Yuzawa ski area actually decided to close for a whole day in order to cope with the massive amounts of snow (for the first time ever).
It is interesting to see that only the month of December 2014 (559cm) beat February 2025 (549cm) in terms of monthly snowfall. Also interesting to recall that we only observed 79cm of snowfall in February 2024.
Only 66cm of snowfall observed in town since the beginning of March, but the fact that Kagura is closing in the middle of May with so much snow still remaining on the slopes goes to show how much snow we got.
So yes, 2024-2025 was a good one regarding snowfall. And I can confirm that there were lots of excellent skiing and snowboarding conditions to enjoy!
There were a lot of people around, too. I do not know visitor numbers/statistics, but there were clearly more ‘inbound’ visitors around. That trend will surely continue.
The frogs are now singing loudly in the evenings, and there have been hints of humidity. The hot and humid period of the year is fast approaching. We'll have to put up with 'rainy season', which will hopefully be over by the time the Fuji Rock Festival is held at Naeba in late July. The hot summer weather will probably continue into September and then, before you know it, we'll be looking forward to cooler weather and the prospect of fresh snow again. (That last bit sounds good).
These Yuzawa Now reports will be back in November. Let’s hope we will be able to report over 10m of snow again during the 2025-2026 season. But whatever happens, SnowJapan will be here to tell you about it without the slightest hint of hype. (Of course).
I hope you enjoyed our reporting. SnowJapan is updated throughout the year and information from ski areas about the 2025-2026 season will start being checked and updated in summer (with most of that work happening in the autumn months).
Thanks for reading. See you in November.
Good memories.
Yuzawa Now 2024-2025 season |
Data as of Sunday 18th May 2025 Total snowfall at base so far 1243cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 74 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 62cm (20th February) November 2024 snowfall 0cm December 2024 snowfall 352cm reported on 20 days January 2025 snowfall 286cm reported on 18 days February 2025 snowfall 539cm reported on 23 days March 2025 snowfall 66cm reported on 13 days April 2025 snowfall 0cm May 2025 snowfall 0cm |
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.