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Zao Now: Wednesday 20th January 2016

  • Jan 20, 2016
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 12cm
Snowfall at base this season 272cm

Posted on Wednesday 20th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Morning from Zao.


After that huge amount of snow yesterday, this morning there's another 12cm to report.


A few lifts seem to be not operating at the time of writing, but they shouldn't affect the courses that are available and hopefully will start chugging along soon enough.


Conditions should be really great on the slopes this morning, though wind-chill will very probably be a factor this morning so wrap up good.


Regular snowfall on the forecast and so we can expect some decent top-ups in the coming week.


Most lifts open this morning.


Official snow depths:


Utopia: 110cm

Chuo: 130cm

Paradise: 130cm

Uwanodai: 90cm



Zao Now 2015-2016 season

Data as of Wednesday 20th January 2016 Total snowfall at base 272cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 30 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 46cm (on 19th January) November 2015 snowfall 22cm observed on 2 days December 2015 snowfall 96cm observed on 12 days January 2016 snowfall 154cm observed on 16 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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