Zao Now: Friday 11th December 2020
- Dec 11, 2020
- 3 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 0cm
Snowfall at base this season 0cm
Posted on Friday 11th December 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
Hello and welcome to the Zao Now reports.
Some of you might have been thinking that there wouldn't be any Zao Now reports this season, but we are happy to report that we have sorted out a few operational issues and are back.
So we will be posting Zao Now reports for the 2020-2021 season, and our sincere thanks to the individuals involved in providing them.
And apologies for the delay in them appearing. Better late than never!
Zao Onsen, like most (every?!) resort in Japan was eerily silent during the year and I kept looking out for that tumbleweed rolling down the main street! Unfortunate for those summer hikers as it was wonderfully warm and lush this year which extended the Autumn out to just a few weeks ago. The Go To campaign, however, certainly saw numbers increase suddenly toward the end of Autumn and we'll be seeing a lot more Japanese this year on the slopes because of this (and the lack of foreign visitors).
Snow cover has been coming and going several times since the beginning of December - snow one day, sunny and hot the next which confused the heck out of the Suzumebachi - Murder Hornets for our American brethren (trapped a beauty before the frosts came in).
According to local farmers, this year should see a lot of snowfall, but, the question remains as to when! We're all eagerly waving on the forecast for snow from tomorrow and over the forthcoming week. This would be good timing for the traditional Opening Ceremony tomorrow (11am at the Jupeer area).
As it is, the main Chuo slope opened yesterday and you can check it out on the webcam page here.
Hope to giving good news of further openings soon!
Lifts operating:
- Chuo Number 1 pair
- Zao Ropeway (both sections)
- Zao Chuo Ropeway
- Sky Cable
Ski course areas open:
- Chuo (part)
Official snow depths (as reported by the ski area):
- Summit area: 15cm
- Paradise area: 15cm
- Chuo area: 20cm
- Utopia area: 15cm
- Uwanodai area: 0cm
- Oomori area: 0cm
- Kurohime: 0cm
Zao Now 2020-2021 season |
Data as of Friday 11th December 2020 Total snowfall at base 0cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 0 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 0cm November 2020 snowfall 0cm December 2020 snowfall 0cm |
All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Zao Onsen. 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.