Zao Now: Saturday 1st January 2022
- Jan 1, 2022
- 2 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 28cm
Snowfall at base this season 226cm
Posted on Saturday 1st January 2022 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
A very Happy New Year from Zao Onsen, and indeed a lot of happy people on the mountain today after good fall of snow last night.
At present it does not feel too cold and the winds are down in the lower half. Not surprisingly, all the upper car parks are full now (there is now a shuttle bus service from the Karamatsu car park lower down), except, and this is strange, the Omori car park which was only a 5th full on the upper car park when I was there an hour ago.
Again, the Kurohime/Utopia side seems to be ok visibility wise and there is hardly anyone on the Omori slopes. If you're late getting up after last night, thus could be the best area to go to first and especially if you're driving.
Official snow depth
Summit: 75cm
Paradise: 100cm
Chuo: 100cm
Utopia: 170cm
Uwanodai: 80cm
Almost all lifts and areas and runs are scheduled to be open.
Zao Now 2021-2022 season |
Data as of Saturday 1st January 2022 Total snowfall at base 226cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 30cm (on 27th and 28th December) November 2021 snowfall 38cm observed on 3 days December 2021 snowfall 160cm observed on 14 days January 2022 snowfall 28cm observed on 1 day |
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.