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Zao Now: Thursday 20th December 2018

  • Dec 20, 2018
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 32cm
Snowfall at base this season 120cm

Posted on Thursday 20th December 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Great news this morning as I come back in after shovelling myself out of the snow.


A friend of mine is saying 40cm of fresh snowfall; I am measuring 32cm so that is what goes on the report. You will notice that the official snow depth numbers below are not anything like moving that much upwards, but that is expected.


Normal price tickets from tomorrow and with this fresh snowfall I am really expecting more of the mountain to be available.


From tomorrow and the next few days warmer temps are expected with even a chance of rain at base around Sunday. Fingers crossed we can avoid that and go straight into snow by the time we enter the new week.


Lifts and course info:


- Chuo Number 1

- Chuo Number 2

- Mikaeri pair

- Onsen Number 1 pair

- Utopia Number 2 pair


- Zao Ropeway

- Zao Chuo Ropeway

- Sky Cable


* Chuo area part open

* Utopia area part open

* Uwanodai area part open


Official snow depths (as reported by resort):


- Summit area: 45cm

- Paradise area: 50cm

- Chuo area: 60cm

- Utopia area: 55cm

- Uwanodai area: 35cm

- Oomori area: 35cm



Zao Now 2018-2019 season

Data as of Thursday 20th December 2018 Total snowfall at base 120cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 14 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 32cm (on 20th December) November 2018 snowfall 7cm observed on 3 days December 2018 snowfall 113cm observed on 11 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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