Zao Now: Monday 11th January 2016
- Jan 11, 2016
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 4, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 11cm
Snowfall at base this season 168cm
Posted on Monday 11th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
Morning from Zao.
Another 11cm of fresh this morning so the snow is slowly but surely coming. As have the people this weekend, with lots of them around. So we do actually need 'refils' as well as 'base'!
Yesterday the Omori lift started its season and that area of the resort part opened. That means that all of the areas of Zao Onsen are now at least part open, though with some courses not open just yet. I am very much looking forward to the day when I can actually say that 'Zao Onsen is fully open'. It is evidently a gradual process this year though; hopefully it won't be long.
Forecast has quite regular snowfall lined up for our mountain here. Looks towards later on Thursday in particular for potentially heavy snowfall. You know how quickly forecasts can change though...
Back to this morning though and it is cold. Wrap up well and some decent snow to be found.
It is interesting to note that on the official website where they usually mention snow conditions in the different areas of Zao from 'S' (powder snow) through to 'E' ('inferior' snow), they don't seem to have been updating that at all yet this season...
All of the lifts at Zao Onsen are operating.
All areas of Zao Onsen are now at least part open.
Note that there is still less snow than usual and it is thin on the ground especially on lower course areas of the resort.
Official snow depths:
Utopia: 55cm
Chuo: 80cm
Paradise: 55cm
Uwanodai: 35cm
Zao Now 2015-2016 season |
Data as of Monday 11th January 2016 Total snowfall at base 168cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 22 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 22cm (on 27th December) November 2015 snowfall 22cm observed on 2 days December 2015 snowfall 96cm observed on 12 days January 2016 snowfall 50cm observed on 8 days |
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.