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Zao Now: Thursday 21st January 2016

  • Jan 21, 2016
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 4, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 8cm
Snowfall at base this season 280cm

Posted on Thursday 21st January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Morning from Zao where there's 8cm of new snowfall since my last report.


There appears to be less wind today and it is just cloudy. The resort is open as normal. All is good.


The forecast has us down for light snow today and tomorrow, perhaps some clearer periods, and then colder still conditions and moderate to heavy snowfall around Sunday. So if you are planning for the weekend, Saturday might be the better choice. Or not, if you like the stormy conditions. The risk is that if it's windy there may be disruptions to the lift operations.


Over at the Ski Jump later on today there will be over 50 ladies competing. Always fun to watch. The competition starts at 5:30pm.


All planned lifts operating (Karamatsu pair lift is weekend-only)


Official snow depths:


Utopia: 110cm

Chuo: 130cm

Paradise: 130cm

Uwanodai: 95cm



Zao Now 2015-2016 season

Data as of Thursday 21st January 2016 Total snowfall at base 280cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 31 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 162cm observed on 17 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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