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Zao Now: Thursday 5th January 2017

  • Jan 5, 2017
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 25cm
Snowfall at base this season 139cm

Posted on Thursday 5th January 2017 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Good morning from Zao and sorry for the late report today.


It was great to see some proper snowfall yesterday with a decent amount falling both at base and on the slopes. I have measured 25cm since my report yesterday and hopefully we'll be adding to that during the day today too.


Should be very nice snow conditions out there today.


There's not a whole lot of snow forecast through until early in the week. And while we still need and want more snow we should be good for now.


The following lifts are not operating:

Kurohime Number 1 quad

Zao Kokutai pair

Ryuzan pair

Karamatsu pair

Nakamori Number 2 pair

Zao Paradise Number 3 pair

Yokokura Number 2 pair

Omori quad


Official snow depths:

Chuo - 75cm

Utopia - 60cm

Uwanodai - 40cm

Paradise - 70cm



Zao Now 2016-2017 season

Data as of Thursday 5th January 2017 Total snowfall at base 139cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 25 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 25cm (on 5th January) November 2016 snowfall 11cm observed on 6 days December 2016 snowfall 98cm observed on 16 days January 2017 snowfall 30cm 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.


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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