Yuzawa Now: Sunday 31st May 2015
- May 31, 2015
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 23, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 1303cm
Posted on Sunday 31st May 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
And after another hot day yesterday, we actually got some rain overnight and this morning it is considerably cooler.
The forecast is for a cloudy day, with perhaps some sun later on in the day. Temperatures probably won't rise much past the low 20's even here in town and so it might even feel chilly up there at Kagura.
So, the last day of the season at Kagura and therefore for the whole region. Somehow they have managed to keep enough snow on the main Kagura run to remain open!
The 2014-2015 season has at last come to an end. With some ski hills closing two months ago, this last part of the season with Kagura remaining open always seems to go on for a long time – especially as there have been close to no signs of snow and hot conditions down here in town for quite some time.
Kagura always has the longest season and this time they were open for a period of 191 days… that’s over 6 months!
So that was it. According to the chart that you can see below, we observed a huge 1303cm of snow in town this season since December. That’s getting on for 5m more than last season. And remember that is the snow that fell at town level – not high up on the mountains! Impressive numbers I’m sure you’ll agree.
Probably the main talking point of the 2014-2015 season was the snowfall that we got in December. It felt like it wasn’t going to stop at some points, and it’s probably fun to go and read over the archive reports to remind yourself of how that developed.
December 2013: 131cm observed at town level
December 2014: 559cm observed at town level
That’s some difference.
More snow this last season than the previous one in the month of January as well, and about same in February. 2013-2014 season beat 2014-2015 for snowfall in the month of March though. So we basically got the bulk of our snowfall in the first part of the season, with the feeling that we could have really done with more fresh top-ups later on in the main season.
There was no snow shortage problems though!
Take a look at the Yuzawa relevant data on the main chart page here:
<a href="http://www.snowjapan.com/japan-daily-snow-weather-reports/observed-snowfall-data">Observed snowfall charts</a>
You can see how December looks very different over the last two seasons.
Let’s hope that we get another impressive snowfall for 2015-2016 season.
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As with many popular regions of Japan, Yuzawa also enjoyed a noticeable increase in the number of non-Japanese on the slopes. A trend which will no doubt continue over the coming years.
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The SnowJapan Yuzawa Now reports will of course be back in time for the 2015-2016 season and no doubt Kagura will be aiming for a late November opening once again.
Thank you for reading the reports this season and in particular to those of you who send us some feedback - not only for the Yuzawa Now reports but on other areas of the website. We hope you enjoyed them and that they proved to be helpful.
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Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba
The next big event in Yuzawa is the famous Fuji Rock Festival which is held over at Naeba from Friday 24th July until Sunday 26th July.
The line-up this year at Fuji Rock includes Foo Fighters, Muse, Noel Gallagher's Flying Birds, Motorhead, Ride, Belle and Sebastian, Ash, Johnny Marr, Happy Mondays - and literally many more, including a fair chunk of Japanese artists. Here’s to a successful festival and co-operating weather conditions.
Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season |
Data as of Sunday 31st May 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 1303cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 64 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 420cm reported on 22 days February 2015 snowfall 228cm reported on 17 days March 2015 snowfall 95cm reported on 9 days April 2015 snowfall 1cm reported on 1 day May 2015 snowfall 0cm |
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.