Yuzawa Now: Friday 4th December 2015
- Dec 4, 2015
- 3 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 0cm
Posted on Friday 4th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Snow has been falling in the mountains this morning.
We might have even had some sleet-like action overnight down here, but this morning the roads are just wet with rain.
I was woken up by some thunder earlier on which sounded promising and it looks like Kagura got 10cm of fresh snowfall and the Mitsumata area got 3cm since last night. Naeba is also reporting 5cm of snowfall and the base there now has a thin blanket of white. No cm here in the main town area but snow is again visible on some upper areas between the clouds. We even had a brief moment of sunshine a while back but the clouds have blocked that off once again now.
The local forecast for the day is cloud with rain lower down here in town and snow at higher elevations. We're expecting clearer weather beyond tomorrow and into at least the middle of next week, so what we get today will definitely be important especially to Kagura who are always hoping to open up more.
Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai resorts were hoping to be able to open from tomorrow, but with no snow on the ground of course that won't be happening so they will be on standby to open just as soon as there is enough snow.
Most other resorts in the region are at least a week or two away from planned opening so there's time yet of course. The main topic of conversation though at the moment with lots of people is the weather and when we'll get snow to arrive in style this season. The first really decent snowfall here in town last year was on 7th-8th December and after that it just didn't seem to want to stop. You can relive those exciting times by checking out the archive reports...
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Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date):
Currently part open:
The lower part of the main Kagura area - 600m in length, real snow + artificial - is open.
The Mitsumata (snow-mat) area is currently being used as a connection to get to the open Kagura area.
Operating lifts are Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 lift, Mitsumata Number 3 lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 romance pair lift.
The Kagura Gondola needs to be taken to return back to the Mitsumata area.
On standby to open as soon as there is enough snow:
Iwappara
Joetsu Kokusai
Saturday 12th December:
Kaguta (Tashiro)
Maiko Snow Resort
Naeba
Friday 18th December:
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Muikamachi Ski Resort
Yuzawa Nakazato
Yuzawa Park
Saturday 19th December:
GALA Yuzawa
Ipponsugi
Kandatsu Kogen
Ludens Yuzawa
Nakazato Snow Wood
Muimamachi Hakkaisan
NASPA Ski Garden
Yuzawa Kogen
Thursday 24th December:
Chateaux Shiozawa
Friday 25th December:
Hakkaisanroku
Saturday 26th December:
Itsukamachi
Ishiuchi Hanaoka
Mt Granview
Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Friday 4th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 0cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 0 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 0cm November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 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.