Yuzawa Now: Friday 9th January 2026
- Jan 9
- 3 min read
Updated: 10 hours ago
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata
New snowfall at base 51cm
Snowfall at base this seas 334cm
Posted on Friday 9th January 2026 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here.
It has been a very good 24 hours for snowfall.
The snow had just started to fall when I posted early yesterday morning and it has been snowing since then, lightly at times but for some spells during the day it was snowing heavily. With a few clearings along the way, I have wiped off 51cm at our trusted measuring point over the last 24 hours. (There has been about 5cm more than that at SJHQ a little to the north in the Minamiuonuma valley).
Excellent.
It is still snowing early on this morning, lightly at the moment, but there are signs of clearing skies just to the north already. It is due to ease off sometime this morning and we might end up with some sun today.
Sun is forecast from early on tomorrow and throughout the day.
I would expect a lot of people preparing for a weekend trip. Saturday will probably be the busiest day as there's potential for more heavy snow incoming on Sunday. For the record, Monday is a national holiday in Japan (Coming of Age Day) and so it's a long-weekend, traditionally one of the most popular/busy of the ski season.
Thankfully, everyone visiting should be able to enjoy very good snow conditions for it.
Hopefully ski areas that haven't yet been able to reach 'fully open' status will be close to being able to now.
One major example is the Southern Area and downhill course at GALA Yuzawa, along with the Ropeway link between that ski area and Yuzawa Kogen. Those usually open up when the snow is deeper. I imagine that is going to happen very soon. (I don't have any official information to share about that situation at this moment; purely personal thought).
The snow levels in my back garden are still lower than usual/average for the date, but much improved and it's great to have snow walls growing by the side of roads. Let them continue to grow quickly.
You can probably tell how much I love it when we get large amounts of snow!
Yuzawa Now2025-2026 season |
Data as of Friday 9th January 2026 Total snowfall at base so far 334cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 51cm (on 9th January) November 2025 snowfall 12cm reported on 1 day December 2025 snowfall 144cm reported on 9 days January 2026 snowfall 178cm reported on 7 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.