Yuzawa Now: Thursday 26th January 2017
- Jan 26, 2017
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 24cm
Snowfall at base this season 595cm
Posted on Thursday 26th January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning to you all from Yuzawa. It’s an early report this morning which means that some of the official snow depth numbers have not all been updated.
The snow continued falling through the day yesterday into the evening, continuing to build up very nicely. With a few more cm this morning, it gives me a total of 24cm to report today.
Clear skies are due for the day today and indeed it is a very nice start - though there is some cloud hanging on at the time of this report. And a fair bit of cloud still to the north of Yuzawa (as you can see on the Ishiuchi Maruyama webcam below). I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with completely clear skies though today.
Snow conditions should be excellent whichever ski hill you choose.
The forecast is for generally clearer conditions over the coming days, maybe a bit more sleet-snow later tomorrow (rain in town? the local forecast shows some alarmingly warm temperatures in the daytime tomorrow). Let's hope things don't warm up much, it would be cruel to mess with the lovely snow we have now.
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What a few weeks it has been.
Over the period of about two weeks, we have gone there not being much snow (along with frequent rainfall), to having a very large amount of snow.
The numbers I am about to mention are all available below on this page and also on the Snowfall Analysis page (tab at the top), but it’s worth pointing them out.
Here’s the snowfall that I have observed here at town level during the month of January in recent seasons:
449cm from 1st-26th January 2017
143cm for the whole month of January 2016
420cm for the whole month of January 2015
297cm for the whole month of January 2014
254cm for the whole month of January 2013
….and most of the snowfall this month has been in the last 14 days!
Here is the amount of snowfall observed from the beginning of the season through January:
595cm up until 26th January 2017
235cm up until the end of January 2016
979cm up until the end of January 2015
433cm up until the end of January 2014
479cm up until the end of January 2013
Remember, the 2014/2015 season was generally known as a season of ‘crazy snowfall’ and the 2015/2016 season was one of ‘much less than usual snowfall’. They were two extremes, almost.
Last season (2015/2016) we only observed 424cm of snowfall in total – for the whole season – so we have already had got more than that by late January.
Anyway, the last few weeks has really transformed the season here.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season shapes up.
Over the previous four seasons we have seen between 151cm and 238cm of snowfall during the month of February. We usually get much less in March, but it can throw in a few surprises (see March 2014).
Here’s to lots of regular snowfall through the next few months and for a long season!
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Official snow depth information as of Thursday 26th January 2017
Some not updated for today due to early report
GALA Yuzawa
The South Area is closed at the moment due to the recent heavy snowfall. The main Central and North Areas remain open as normal.
Official snow depth: 330cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Official snow depth: 270cm
Iwappara
Official snow depth: 225cm
Joetsu Kokusai
Official snow depth: 270cm
Kagura
Strong winds affecting some lifts at the start of the day.
Official snow depth:
Kagura - 330cm
Mitsumata - 200cm
Tashiro - 280cm
Kandatsu Kogen
Official snow depth: 290cm
Maiko Snow Resort
Official snow depth:
Upper - 310cm
Base - 190cm
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
Official snow depth: 300cm
Naeba
Official snow depth: 230cm
NASPA Ski Garden
Official snow depth: 300cm
Yuzawa Kogen
Official snow depth:
Top - 290cm
Base - 200cm
Yuzawa Park
Official snow depth: 230cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
Official snow depth: 200cm
Yuzawa Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Thursday 26th January 2017 Total snowfall at base so far 595cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 34 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 72cm (14th January) November 2016 snowfall 2cm reported on 1 day December 2016 snowfall 144cm reported on 14 days January 2017 snowfall 449cm reported on 19 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.