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Zao Now: Sunday 29th December 2013

  • Dec 29, 2013
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 10cm
Snowfall at base this season 187cm

Posted on Sunday 29th December 2013 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


A snowy morning in Zao with at least another 10cm outside here, so hopefully up to double that in higher places on the mountain. It's a cold one and when I glanced at the thermometer outside earlier on it was down below minus 5. Brrrrr. A cold -12 is being posted by the top Ropeway station as well.


It's still snowing and poor visibility with a thick fog thing going on outside this morning. Not much to see at all. Hopefully it might be clearer for the evening light up.


Lots of people here in Zao this weekend as everyone prepares for New Year. Zao is not famous for having a lot of nightlife (far from it) but there will be lots of things going on in the hotels and ryokans in the villages and the few places where people can go.


Snow and possibly strong winds is lined up over the next few days.


Official snow depths:

Utopia: 150cm

Chuo: 140cm

Paradise: 150cm

Uwanodai: 85cm


Zao Now 2013-2014 season

Data as of Sunday 29th December 2013 Total snowfall at base so far 187cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 30cm (on 12th December) November 2013 snowfall 12cm observed on 1 day December 2013 snowfall 175cm 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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