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Zao Now: Saturday 30th December 2017

  • Dec 30, 2017
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 23cm
Snowfall at base this season 259cm

Posted on Saturday 30th December 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Good morning from a cold and snowy Zao. As it should be!


A good 20cm of fresh snow on the ground to report to you as continue to fall this morning.


On this last weekend of the year there are lots of people around - well, in their hotels and ryokans anyway! And probably on the slopes of the resort today and tomorrow too.


Limited visibility on many areas of the resort this morning but with the slopes being pretty crowded... extra care needed. It will be good to get out though with some very fine conditions I expect. I'll be off checking them out myself once I get this report out.


All areas of Zao Onsen other than Kotan are open and operating.


We can probably expect a nice calm day tomorrow. Looks like the next decent snowfall is due in the first half of the week.


Lifts and courses:


- Most lifts are now operating and most courses are now open


Official snow depths:


- Summit area: 105cm

- Paradise area: 130cm

- Chuo area: 130cm

- Utopia area: 135cm

- Uwanodai area: 75cm

- Oomori area: 80cm



Zao Now 2017-2018 season

Data as of Saturday 30th December 2017 Total snowfall at base 259cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 24 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 32cm (on 25th November and 28th December) November 2017 snowfall 66cm observed on 5 days December 2017 snowfall 193cm observed on 19 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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