Zao Now: Wednesday 3rd January 2018
- Jan 3, 2018
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 6, 2025
Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata
New snowfall at base 23cm
Snowfall at base this season 284cm
Posted on Wednesday 3rd January 2018 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.
Good morning from Zao.
Yesterday afternoon turned out to be lovely with blue skies and good visibility.
The snow clouds moved back over the area though and this morning there is over 20cm of fresh snowfall to report from base. I'm a bit surprised to see how little the official snow depths have increased (see below), but there you go...
All of the lifts and courses are open. Poor visibility and wind means you need to go out prepared. And take extra care too.
Things should be calmer tomorrow followed by less snowy days on the forecast. So basically, the more the better during the day today.
Lifts and courses:
- All open
Official snow depths:
- Summit area: 105cm
- Paradise area: 140cm
- Chuo area: 140cm
- Utopia area: 145cm
- Uwanodai area: 80cm
- Oomori area: 80cm
Zao Now 2017-2018 season |
Data as of Wednesday 3rd January 2018 Total snowfall at base 284cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 27 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 January 2018 snowfall 25cm observed on 3 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.