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Zao Now: Saturday 17th February 2018

  • Feb 17, 2018
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 6, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 15cm
Snowfall at base this season 698cm

Posted on Saturday 17th February 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


It has been a snowy few days and it's snowy morning with quite a lot of people around.


Limited visibility and a moderate wind this morning along with cold conditions. Not helping my mild case of flu I seem to be suffering from at the moment... there's lots of it about.


Snow might continue through the day today and into tomorrow too, though perhaps less so.


Chinese New Year weekend and quite a number of visitors from overseas here at the moment.


Lifts and course info:


- All lifts appear to be opening as scheduled

- Note: the Karamatsu pair lift usually only operates on weekends

- All areas open


Official snow depths:


- Summit area: 200cm

- Paradise area: 240cm

- Chuo area: 240cm

- Utopia area: 260cm

- Uwanodai area: 155cm

- Oomori area: 175cm



Zao Now 2017-2018 season

Data as of Saturday 17th February 2018 Total snowfall at base 698cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 55 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 42cm (on 12th February) November 2017 snowfall 66cm observed on 5 days December 2017 snowfall 193cm observed on 19 days January 2018 snowfall 275cm observed on 21 days February 2018 snowfall 164cm observed on 10 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.


SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for.



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