Yuzawa Now: Tuesday 21st January 2020
- Jan 21, 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 113cm
Posted on Tuesday 21st January 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Yuzawa.
Very good news, everybody!
I am very happy to report some decent fresh snow on the ground this morning and snow continuing to fall at a good rate.
Rewind a bit, we had to endure some more rain in town in the daytime yesterday. I for one was feeling pretty miserable... thinking, this really should be snow. Fast forward and I am feeling much brighter this morning. It just goes to show what some beautiful snow can do!
Here's how much fresh snowfall the ski resorts themselves are reporting from early morning:
Kagura: 20cm
Maiko Snow Resort: 20cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama: 20cm
So, about 20cm it is! And there is surely a few more since those early reports were posted.
(Remember, 'fresh snowfall' is often more that/different from any changes that are made to 'official snow depth' as it gets groomed/packed down etc).
I am measuring 15cm on the ground at my measuring point in town and my friend just to the north in Shiozawa is reporting 12cm.
It is still snowing and hopefully will continue at least through the morning. One interesting point to mention is that it is still not getting crazy cold though this morning there is more of a wind blowing than there has generally been so far.
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Talking of wind, the Tashiro Area of Kagura is closed today due to wind conditions, so the Kagura resort is open from Mitsumata Ropeway up to the Kagura Number 1 high speed lift. Other resorts appear to be open as planned.
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So yes, it is very good news this morning and this new snowfall will have given slopes a needed re-fresh. We still need more though for lower areas to fully open up.
Looking ahead, temperatures are going to be rising later in the week and there isn't a whole lot of potential snow on the weekly forecast.
If you want to choose one day and are able to take a day out to get here, I'd say that tomorrow is probably a very good choice --- sunny skies are forecast.
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If there's one thing I know that I am going to learn from this particular season, it's that I need to always take the time to appreciate the snow we get - and not to take it for granted.
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Individual ski resort information: Tuesday 21st January 2020
All information checked and updated manually for each report. Subject to change.
GALA Yuzawa
- All of the Central Area and Northern Area courses are open
- All lifts are now operating apart from the Ropeway lift connecting with Yuzawa Kogen in the Southern Area
- The Southern Area is part open - Batman and Eliza courses are open
- Take the Gondola back down at the end of the day (Falcon downhill course not yet available)
- Official snow depth: 120cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
- Access via the three base Entrances is available
- 17 courses currently open (lower courses not available)
- Official snow depth: 90cm (upper); 60cm (mid)
Iwappara
- 5 lifts are operating with the central to upper area of the resort open
- Official snow depth: 40cm
Joetsu Kokusai
- 8 lifts operating (the Nagamine quad is operating to get up to the open top area)
- 7 courses open in the Panorama and Atema areas
- Official snow depth: 60cm
Kagura
- All areas of Kagura are normally open *** TASHIRO CLOSED THIS MORNING DUE TO WIND ***
- The top Number 5 lift and top gate are normally open
- The Dragondola connecting with Naeba is operating
- Official snow depth: 140cm
Kandatsu Snow Resort
- A, B, C and E lifts plan to be operating
- Official snow depth: 110cm
Maiko Snow Resort
- The Gondola and top Okusoechi quad and pair lifts are operating with 8 courses in that top area open.
- Take the Gondola back down to base.
- 1 course and 1 lift (Center quad) open in the Maiko Area
- Official snow depth: 90cm (upper); -cm (base)
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- Ropeway and Number 1 and 3 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 110cm
Naeba
- Naeba is open with most courses available
- Official snow depth: 70cm
- Details on Naeba Now report here
NASPA Ski Garden
- All lifts operating
- B, C, E, F, G and H courses are open (A and D closed)
- Mogul and Slopestyle not open
- Kids Garden open
- Official snow depth: 65cm
Yuzawa Kogen
- Yuzawa Ropeway operating
- All Kogen lifts now operating and Kogen Snowland is open
- Base area not currently open
- The Ropeway connecting Yuzawa Kogen with the Southern Area of GALA Yuzawa is not yet operating
- Official snow depth: 90cm (Kogen); -cm (base)
Yuzawa Nakazato
- Number 1, 2, 3 and 5 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 40cm
Yuzawa Park
- Number 1 and 7 lifts operating
- Official snow depth: 25cm
Yuzawa Now 2019-2020 season |
Data as of Tuesday 21st January 2020 Total snowfall at base so far 113cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 16 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 15cm (5th and 21st January) November 2019 snowfall 12cm reported on 1 day December 2019 snowfall 27cm reported on 7 days January 2020 snowfall 74cm reported on 8 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.