Zao Now: Monday 16th December 2013
- Dec 16, 2013
- 2 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 20cm
Snowfall at base this season 140cm
Posted on Monday 16th December 2013 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
And yes, more snow this morning. About another 20cm or so at base areas though it is just cloudy at the moment though the forecast is for cloud and snow on and off through the day.
It boggles the mind how they still only have 50cm at Uwanodai officially - I suppose they must just be compacting it like crazy. Take it with a pinch of salt though as there's much more than that falling. They have 130cm as the number coming from Utopia which is more like it... but then again, there's more!
Not quite as cold this morning in Zao, but still -3. Up top temp of -8 reported by the resort.
From today the Astraea Number 3 lift, Utopia Number 2 lift and the Omori quad lift join in the fun as more of the mountain opens. Though the Chuo Number 2 and Katakai lift will be closed until Friday. It's all very complicated!
From Friday lots of the remaining lifts plan to open and then the resort will pretty much be fully open I would expect.
The cheaper early season lift tickets are on sale until the 20th, after which it's normal season prices.
Official snow depths:
Utopia: 130cm
Chuo: 90cm
Paradise: 95cm
Uwanodai: 50cm
Planned operating lifts until Thursday this week:
Ropeways and Gondolas
Onsen Number 1 pair
Onsen Number 2 quad
Onsen Number 3 parallel
Miaeri pair
Chuo Number 1 pair
Diamond Number 2
Zao Paradise Pair
Shobunuma Number 1 triple / 2 pair
Omori quad
Yokokura Number 1 pair
Yokokura Number 2 pair
Astraea Number 1 pair
Astraea Number 2 pair
Astraea Number 3 pair
Utopia Number 1 pair
Utopia Number 2 pair
Kurohime Number 1 quad
Zao Now 2013-2014 season |
Data as of Monday 16th December 2013 Total snowfall at base so far 140cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 30cm (on 12th December) November 2013 snowfall 12cm observed on 1 day December 2013 snowfall 128cm 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.