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Zao Now: Sunday 30th December 2018

  • Dec 30, 2018
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 16cm
Snowfall at base this season 221cm

Posted on Sunday 30th December 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


What a great end to the year we are enjoying. If you like heavy snow that is! (Which of course, I do!)


There is a chance of some sunshine tomorrow and dare I say it some may be looking forward to the prospect, whether it's to catch a break, just enjoy the skiing and boarding, or get to shovelling more snow.


It's busy here with limited visibility on the mountain.


All of Zao is open apart from one lift and one course.


Operation info from official sources:


All lifts are scheduled to be operating apart from:


- Zao Paradise Number 3 pair


All courses should be open apart from


- Kotan


Official snow depths (as reported by resort):


- Summit area: 90cm

- Paradise area: 120cm

- Chuo area: 120cm

- Utopia area: 100cm

- Uwanodai area: 70cm

- Oomori area: 90cm



Zao Now 2018-2019 season

Data as of Sunday 30th December 2018 Total snowfall at base 221cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 20 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 43cm (on 29th December) November 2018 snowfall 7cm observed on 3 days December 2018 snowfall 214cm observed on 17 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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