Yuzawa Now: Friday 2nd February 2018
- Feb 2, 2018
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 4cm
Snowfall at base this season 687cm
Posted on Friday 2nd February 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Yesterday remained cloudy for the day, getting a bit brighter at times but never really clearing up.
And there was some snowfall overnight too. Kagura and Maiko Snow Resort are this morning reporting 5cm across their areas overnight. I am measuring 4cm on the ground.
It's a very cloudy start to the day but there are early signs of some blue sky appearing and probably a good chance that it will clear up more than it did yesterday. Maybe even be sunny. Let's see.
Expect sunshine tomorrow morning to be followed by a return to snowfall by Sunday.
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We thought it would be a good time to look over the season so far and see how the Yuzawa 2017/2018 season is shaping up compared with previous recent seasons.
The numbers I am mentioning here can all be found at the bottom of the Yuzawa Now report and they are on all the archive reports too. More comparisons and graphs can also be found by looking at the ‘Snowfall Analysis’ page. Click on the blue tab at the top of this page to see that.
And please remember, these numbers come from base and there is usually more - sometimes much more - snow falling at higher elevations.
This is the amount of snowfall that we have observed here at town level in Yuzawa over the past six seasons:
December 2017: 277cm
December 2016: 144cm
December 2015: 92cm
December 2014: 559cm
December 2013: 131cm
December 2012: 217cm
December 2017 was pretty good, with much more than in the slow-starting two previous seasons. It’s going to take a very special year to beat the somewhat crazy December 2014 though!
January 2018: 392cm
January 2017: 470cm
January 2016: 143cm
January 2015: 420cm
January 2014: 297cm
January 2013: 254cm
We had a rather dry (and unfortunately sometimes wet!) spell in the middle part of January 2018. There were stretches of no snowfall - or only very slight snowfall - on either side of the 23cm that was recorded on the 14th January.
Some regular and at times heavy snowfall in the last week of January really rescued the numbers for the month though, and we enjoyed some pleasing Yuzawa-like snowfall around 25th-26th January. The end result was a decent showing for the months total with close on 4m of snowfall.
17/18 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 683cm
16/17 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 883cm
15/16 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 386cm
14/15 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 1207cm
13/14 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 637cm
12/13 season total observed snowfall until the end of January 2018: 717cm
So up until the end of January 2018, our Yuzawa Now reports have observed just under 7m of snowfall for the season so far. That is not as much as last season at the same point (or that rather special 2014/2015 season), but it is certainly more than 2015/2016 and a comparable amount with what we observed during the 2013/2014 and 2012/2013 seasons.
Looking ahead, what can we expect from February? Over the last 5 seasons we have recorded between 151cm and 267cm; that averages out at 217cm.
February 2017: 267cm
February 2016: 151cm
February 2015: 228cm
February 2014: 204cm
February 2013: 238cm
We’ll have to see how this middle part of the season shapes up. Like last season or more would be good!
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Ski resorts in Yuzawa:
Checked and updated every morning. Note that some ski resorts may not have updated their own info at the time this report is published.
GALA Yuzawa
- 310cm
Iwappara
- 215cm
Kagura
- Kagura area: 350cm
- Mitsumata area: 250cm
- Tashiro area: 300cm
Kandatsu Kogen
- 270cm
Naeba
- 240cm (base)
NASPA Ski Garden
- 245cm
Yuzawa Kogen
- Top: 280cm
- Base: 230cm
Yuzawa Park
- 180cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
- 190cm
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Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma (just to the north of Yuzawa):
Ishiuchi Maruyama
- 260cm
Joetsu Kokusai
- 310cm
Maiko Snow Resort
- Top: 250cm
- Base: 170cm
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
- Closed on Wednesdays until 14th March
- 340cm
Yuzawa Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Friday 2nd February 2018 Total snowfall at base so far 687cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 39 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 60cm (26th January) November 2017 snowfall 14cm reported on 3 days December 2017 snowfall 277cm reported on 16 days January 2018 snowfall 392cm reported on 19 days February 2018 snowfall 4cm reported on 1 day |
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.