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Zao Now: Thursday 25th December 2014

  • Dec 25, 2014
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 3, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 3cm
Snowfall at base this season 279cm

Posted on Thursday 25th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Just a few more cm of snow to report this morning from Zao where it is snowing on and off at the moment and quite foggy in places. That's basically what the forecast is saying as well for the day today and for tomorrow as well, before the skies clear up by maybe Saturday or more definitely Sunday. We're not seeing that many clear days this month so far, so it will be good to have a run of them when the resort is busy.


Unfortunately, the famous Yokokura-no-kabe steel mogul course is closed due to avalanche danger at the moment. No word on when that will be able to re-open.


Other than that and the Ryuzan area, all of the areas of Zao are now open and enjoying some fine conditions.


Official snow depths:


Utopia: 170cm

Chuo: 180cm

Paradise: 170cm

Uwanodai: 130cm


Night skiing operations at Zao this season


Uwanodai area:

Daily until 22nd March


Yokokura area:

From Friday 26th December until 4th January;

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Friday 9th January until 15th March


Open times from 5pm until 9pm.



Zao Now 2014-2015 season

Data as of Thursday 25th December 2014 Total snowfall at base 279cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 20 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (on 3rd December) November 2014 snowfall 20cm observed on 2 days December 2014 snowfall 259cm observed on 18 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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