Zao Now: Tuesday 16th February 2021
- Feb 16, 2021
- 2 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 1cm
Snowfall at base this season 337cm
Posted on Tuesday 16th February 2021 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
It rained all day yesterday with a break at the afternoon and then started again late night. At some time during the wee hours of the morning it started snowing lightly, but, along with it came gales. As such, it is difficult to really estimate how much snow did fall. It started snowing again at 09:00 but it is blizzard conditions out there. The good news is that the snow should continue falling over the next couple of days but not as heavy as originally forecasted.
It is, therefore, really grim out there with the cloud very low and below base. The slush became ice and, with only a small layer currently on top, combined with the strong winds, definitely makes this an onsen day! A lot of lifts are not running as a consequence of the wind.
I omitted mentioning yesterday that the Shinkansen is not running between the Nasu area and Fukushima as power lines went down due to the earthquake as well as checks being made on the line. It might be up and running now as Japan is usually pretty fast in this kind of repair work, but, do check if you're coming up or are going back (a local train is running for the halted Shinkansen section, however, it is slooooow).
Zao Now 2020-2021 season |
Data as of Tuesday 16th February 2021 Total snowfall at base 337cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 43 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 24cm (on 30th January) November 2020 snowfall 0cm December 2020 snowfall 142cm observed on 15 days January 2021 snowfall 146cm observed on 20 days February 2021 snowfall 49cm 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.