Yuzawa Now: Wednesday 19th February 2020
- Feb 19, 2020
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this seas 345cm
Posted on Wednesday 19th February 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Yuzawa.
Yesterday was one of those pleasing winter days with quite cold conditions, snow falling for most of the day - and quite heavily at times.
I have an additional 15cm to add this morning.
I wasn't even annoyed when I got woken up by the sound of snow clearing machines in the middle of the night.
This morning Maiko Snow Resort and Yuzawa Kogen are both reporting 20cm of fresh snow; interestingly Kagura reporting only 5-10cm. It sounds like the southern area of Yuzawa (Kagura and Naeba) didn't get as much as the town area and Minamiuonuma just to the north. That sometimes happens.
So we have had a very welcome refresh and fresh snow conditions to enjoy this morning. Hopefully enough to cover patchy lower areas and certainly a big improvement. It should be a good day.
Ishiuchi Maruyama are back to being almost all open and the base 'play in the snow' area at Yuzawa Kogen is open again.
It is still cloudy with light snow lingering in some places, visibility looks generally good and there might even get to be some sunshine later on in the day.
The next delivery of fresh snow is due around Sunday. (Can we just keep the temperatures quite cold and not have any rain over the coming days this time, please?!!)
---
Yesterday I was looking at the report data from this season and noticed something interesting.
Including the snowfall number from today, the total observed snowfall for the month of February 2020 so far is 218cm.
That is actually more than was observed for the whole month of February 2019, February 2018, February 2016 and February 2014. The most that we have observed in these Yuzawa Now reports in the month of February was in 2017 (267cm).
So we are actually doing pretty good for February.
The big difference this season, of course, is the lack of big snowfalls in the early season and very low snowfall numbers for December and January.
I clearly remember December 2014 and January 2015. That period was totally awesome. Lots of shovelling. People were complaining about there being too much snow. (I didn't. That's just silly). That season truly got off to an incredible start...
You can see all of these numbers in the data table towards the bottom of this report. You can also see that data and more on the 'Snowfall Analysis' page (link at the top of this report). The graphs on the page may appear a bit 'busy' initially, but that's only because of the depth of the data we have collated through the years! You can easily toggle the data on/off; compare different seasons against each other; and generally get lost in numbers.
If you haven't already checked that out I highly recommend you taking a look. Seeing the data on the graphs really shows it in a different light...
(Just one onegai - we always welcome links in to our website and there's no need to ask. But if you decide to take a screenshot of our work to share with someone, please do credit us for it. Thank you).
---
GALA Yuzawa
- All lifts are operating
- All courses in Central and Northern Area are open
- In the Southern Area, the Batman and Eliza courses are open
- The Ropeway connecting GALA Yuzawa with Yuzawa Kogen is operating
- Official snow depth: 180cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
- Most courses open today
- Official snow depth: 160cm (upper); 110cm (mid)
Iwappara
- All lifts (apart from Number 1 pair) and most of mid to upper area open
- Official snow depth: 120cm
Joetsu Kokusai
- All areas are now open, some courses unavailable
- Official snow depth: 160cm
Kagura
- All areas of Kagura are open
- The downhill course will not be open this season (autumn typhoon damage)
- The Dragondola connecting with Naeba is operating
- Official snow depth: 250cm
Kandatsu Snow Resort
- A, B and C lifts are operating; most courses open
- Official snow depth: 145cm
Maiko Snow Resort
- All the main areas are now open; some course restrictions
- Official snow depth: 160cm (upper); 55cm (base)
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- 11 of 14 courses open; 3 of 4 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 180cm
Naeba
- 19 of 22 courses open
- Some course restrictions due to upcoming event
- Official snow depth: 90cm
- Details on Naeba Now report here
NASPA Ski Garden
- All main courses apart from D are open; all lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 100cm
Yuzawa Kogen
- The top area via Yuzawa Kogen Ropeway is fully open
- The base areas are open
- The Ropeway connecting Yuzawa Kogen with the Southern Area of GALA Yuzawa is operating
- Official snow depth: 150cm (Kogen); 30cm (base)
Yuzawa Nakazato
- Number 1, 2, 3 and 5 lifts are operating
- Official snow depth: 90cm
Yuzawa Park
- All lifts are operating
- Official snow depth: 100cm
Yuzawa Now 2019-2020 season |
Data as of Wednesday 19th February 2020 Total snowfall at base so far 345cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 29 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 48cm (6th February) November 2019 snowfall 12cm reported on 1 day December 2019 snowfall 27cm reported on 7 days January 2020 snowfall 88cm reported on 10 days February 2020 snowfall 218cm 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.