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Zao Now: Friday 18th January 2019

  • Jan 18, 2019
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this season 291cm

Posted on Friday 18th January 2019 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Stormy conditions here in Zao with snow falling, quite strong westerly winds blowing and some very limited visibility out there. It is also very cold. Difficult to measure snow in these conditions with more and less in places depending on where you look.


Tomorrow morning we might get some sunshine but come Sunday we are forecast a return to fresh snowfall through into at least mid week.


All lifts apart from Karamatsu and Yokokura 2 appear to be operating.


Operation info from official sources:


- All lifts operating apart from Karamatsu pair and Yokokura Number 2 pair

- All courses open


Official snow depths (as reported by resort):


- Summit area: 100cm

- Paradise area: 135cm

- Chuo area: 135cm

- Utopia area: 110cm

- Uwanodai area: 95cm

- Oomori area: 105cm



Zao Now 2018-2019 season

Data as of Friday 18th January 2019 Total snowfall at base 291cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 29 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 43cm (on 29th December) November 2018 snowfall 7cm observed on 3 days December 2018 snowfall 218cm observed on 18 days January 2019 snowfall 66cm 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.


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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