Zao Now: Saturday 24th December 2016
- Dec 24, 2016
- 2 min read
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 91cm
Posted on Saturday 24th December 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
Morning from Zao and just a light sprinkling of fresh snow to report.
Better than yesterday which was definitely one to forget, though we still of course need a lot more snow to really get things going properly for the season. If you check the forecast you'll see bits of snow falling here and there over the coming week though there doesn't appear to be anything major over the coming week. Hmmm...
In the meantime generally the upper areas of Zao Onsen is open with lower slopes and lifts on standby and waiting.
The current snow situation means that the planned light up for tonight has been cancelled (as was last night).
The following lifts are not operating:
Astraea Number 3 pair
Kurohime Number 1 quad
Onsen Number 2 quad
Onsen Number 3 parallel AB
Onsen Number 4 quad
Zao Kokutai pair
Ryuzan pair
Karamatsu pair
Sunrise pair AB
Nakamori Number 1 triple
Nakamori Number 2 pair
Zao Paradise Number 3 pair
Yokokura Number 1 pair A
Yokokura Number 2
Astraea Number 1 pair
Astraea Number 2 pair
Omori quad
Official snow depths:
Chuo - 50cm
Utopia - 35cm
Uwanodai - 15cm
Paradise - 40cm
Juhyo 'Ice Monsters' Light Up night time Zao Ropeway operations
December 2016: 29th-31st
January 2017: 1st-3rd, 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, 22nd, 27th-31st
February 2017: 1st-28th
March 2017: 1st-5th
Operating from 5pm until 9pm; last ropeway up at 7:50pm.
Ropeway return charges are 2,600 yen for adults and 1,300 yen for children.
In the event of poor weather conditions, operations are sometimes cancelled.
Zao Now 2016-2017 season |
Data as of Saturday 24th December 2016 Total snowfall at base 91cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 17cm (on 17th December) November 2016 snowfall 11cm observed on 6 days December 2016 snowfall 80cm observed on 12 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.