Yuzawa Now: Wednesday 24th January 2018
- Jan 24, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 476cm
Posted on Wednesday 24th January 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Lots of nature news yesterday with the eruption (see below for more on that - Yuzawa is totally unaffected) and the Kanto region still coping with the snowfall that they got. Phew!
It took until evening for snow to start falling properly here yesterday. Those curiously shy clouds moved in during the day with some wet snow by later on, then some decent snow as things got darker. We were hoping for up to 40cm of snow this morning (as per the local Niigata forecast) but... that didn't quite happen.
Yes, we do have a welcome layer of snow - I am measuring 15cm - but can't help but feel a little disappointed with that. Still, the forecasts remain firm in their absolute promise of tons of snow over the next few days.
I still believe! And I can't wait to report it...
For the record here is the amount of fresh snowfall that resorts are reporting:
Kagura (main): 40cm
Kagura (Mitsumata): 30cm
Kagura (Tashiro): 20cm
Maiko Snow Resort: 20-30cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama: 10cm
Some good numbers up at Kagura there.
More please!
---
About the volcanic eruption at Kusatsu-Shirane-san in Gunma Prefecture on 23rd January 2018
As you may have heard, yesterday morning there was a limited volcanic eruption followed by an avalanche in western Gunma Prefecture, close to the border with northern Nagano Prefecture. The eruption at Motoshirane happened close to the more famous Kusatsu-Shirane-san - and also the slopes of the Kusatsu Kokusai ski resort. Around 80 skiers were evacuated to an area near the upper area of Kusatsu-Shirane with some trapped in the gondola and on lifts for a while.
Very sadly, as a result of this event there was one fatality and a number of injuries, apparently due to flying rocks and the avalanche. As far as we can tell there have been no further eruptions since yesterday morning.
Our thoughts are with everyone involved and caught up in this.
This incident made the international news with some people visiting Japan asking if their ski resort will be safe, and so we thought we would add this information to our daily reports this morning.
The only ski resort affected by this event is Kusatsu Kokusai in Gunma Prefecture.
It is currently unclear how this will affect the top area of the resort, but it seems that the lower slopes of Kusatsu Kokusai will remain open today – those slopes are quite a distance from the affected area. (And perhaps this is a good example of how Japanese people are used to living with the threat of earthquakes and volcanos!)
The ski resorts in Shiga Kogen (Nagano) and Manza Onsen (Gunma) are the other closest ski resorts, but they are outside of the 2km restricted area -- and are unaffected.
And of course, ski resorts that are further away than that are also totally unaffected.
The central part of Kusatsu town itself is about 7km away from the volcano and so also unaffected.
We hope this information helps.
---
Updated: Wednesday 24th January 2018
Ski resorts in Yuzawa:
GALA Yuzawa
- 220cm
Iwappara
- 140cm
Kagura
- Kagura area: 310cm
- Mitsumata area: 210cm
- Tashiro area: 260cm
Kandatsu Kogen
- 190cm
Naeba
- 220cm (base)
NASPA Ski Garden
- 160cm
Yuzawa Kogen
- Top: 180cm
- Base: 130cm
Yuzawa Park
- 120cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
- 130cm
---
Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma (just to the north of Yuzawa):
Ishiuchi Maruyama
- 180cm
Joetsu Kokusai
- 180cm
Maiko Snow Resort
- Top: 200cm
- Base: 110cm
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- Closed on Wednesdays until 14th March
- 250cm
Yuzawa Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Wednesday 24th January 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 476cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 31 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 54cm (14th and 27th December) November 2017 snowfall 14cm reported on 3 days December 2017 snowfall 277cm reported on 16 days January 2018 snowfall 185cm reported on 12 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.