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Zao Now: Friday 29th December 2023

  • Dec 29, 2023
  • 2 min read

Updated: Oct 8, 2025

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 2cm
Snowfall at base this season 98cm

Posted on Friday 29th December 2023 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Greetings from Zao.


Yesterday was no change from the morning and looks to have snowed overnight with the roads covered in a thin layer of snow. There is a medium morning fog that is slowly moving towards the top of the mountain and visibility up there looks poor at the moment.


At the moment, sleet is probably the best description. It will be snowing at Chuo.


[Update at 9:30am: it is snowing lightly now]


I'm afraid there is a lack of heavy snow on the weekly forecast. It is concerning, but what can we do? At least the mountain is open so we just need to keep on going and enjoy what we have.



Zao Now 2023-2024 season

Data as of Friday 29th December 2023 Total snowfall at base 98cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 18cm (on 30th November) November 2023 snowfall 32cm observed on 4 days December 2023 snowfall 66cm observed on 14 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.


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