Yuzawa Now: Friday 8th January 2016
- Jan 8, 2016
- 4 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 6cm
Snowfall at base this season 111cm
Posted on Friday 8th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Yuzawa... and what a beautiful morning it is!
The sun is out and it's mostly blue skies over Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma with just a few clouds hanging on here and there. There's more cloud just to the north and if the forecast of a cloudy day with snow due to fall later on in the day comes through, they may be about to move in on our area. Somehow it doesn't feel like they will though - not just yet.
But you want to know about the snowfall yesterday, don't you?
Here's the headlines:
Kagura reporting 10-15cm this morning (unclear how that fits in with the 15-20cm they were reporting early afternoon yesterday!)
Naeba reporting 20cm
Maiko Snow Resort reporting 10cm.
A few resorts upping their official snow depths by up to 20cm today.
Me? 6cm fell outside my place. The snow eased off later in the evening.
So, not a huge amount and certainly not 'enough', but of course a very welcome refresh and it was good to see it snowing. It was quite heavy at times, though those times didn't last long enough. One characteristic of the snowfall this season has been just that... we've not enjoyed full-on blizzard like snowfall for prolonged periods.
But might we get some of that this coming weekend? Maybe.
There's more snowfall forecast for later today (from this afternoon?) and as we enter tomorrow. Sunday may start with sunshine but some potentially decent snowfall is on the forecast again for later in the day and for Monday. The main thing is if it can get - and keep - good and cold.
It's a 3-day weekend coming up in Japan as Monday is 'Coming of Age Day'. Usually this is one of the popular weekends of the season and so I would expect resorts to be busy, a good early start is recommended.
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A recap on the status of major resort areas:
Most resorts are struggling with the lack of snow. Some lower courses are now either not open or getting narrow and struggling to remain open and might have to if there is no refill soon. Here's some few resort specific information, by no means complete but hopefully of help to get an idea of where resorts are at this moment:
The Kagura resort areas remain (close to) fully open. They were reporting 15-20cm of fresh up top by early afternoon yesterday, and 10-15cm this morning;
A fair section of Naeba is open with a decent refresh yesterday, connection with Tashiro remains open;
The Central and North areas of GALA Yuzawa are mostly open (the downhill Falcon course is not open);
All of the lifts and six out of eight courses at Yuzawa Kogen are open;
Most of the courses at Kandatsu Kogen are open (90% of the area);
Most of the central area of Iwappara is open (top area not open);
Four courses at NASPA Ski Garden area open with four lifts operating;
Most of Ishiuchi Maruyama is open but some lower areas closed (in those places get the lift back down);
The upper Okusoeji area and part of the Maiko area of Maiko Snow Resort are open (get the gondola back down from Okusoeji);
12 courses at Joetsu Kokusai are open.
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Resort official snow depths (Friday 8th January 2016) and any specific news:
All resorts in the area are now generally open for the season, though please note that some areas and courses are not open. Generally steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed. The snow yesterday helped but we're still low on snow, especially lower course areas.
Resorts in Yuzawa:
GALA Yuzawa
110cm
Ishiuchi Maruyama
70cm
Iwappara
40cm
Joetsu Kokusai
70cm
Kagura
90cm (Mitsumata)
120cm (Tashiro)
150cm (Kagura)
Kandatsu Kogen
85cm
Maiko Snow Resort
80cm (upper)
30cm (lower)
Muikamachi Hakkaisan
50cm
Naeba
60cm
NASPA Ski Garden
60cm
Yuzawa Kogen
70cm
Yuzawa Nakazato
50cm
Yuzawa Park
35cm
Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Friday 8th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 111cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (28th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 19cm reported on 2 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.