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Zao Now: Sunday 5th January 2020

  • Jan 5, 2020
  • 2 min read

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Zao region of Yamagata


New snowfall at base 6cm
Snowfall at base this season 75cm

Posted on Sunday 5th January 2020 This is an archived report. The latest Zao Now report can be found here.


Good morning from Zao.


Sorry for not reporting to you yesterday. I spent most of the day in a hospital with a friend who, it turns out, has broken his leg. It was a long and tiring day... but could have been worse. He is a good skier too. A reminder that we all need to take care out there. (He said that, by the way!)


So, I have 6cm of snowfall to report from base since my last report and I am happy to say that it is snowing quite heavily as I type this.


Hopefully the cm will be adding up today.


Heavier snow appears to be on the forecast for around Tuesday night into Wednesday; we might get some clearer skies tomorrow and Tuesday morning.


There are still a bunch of lifts not moving for the season yet and those snow depth numbers could do with being much higher. Let's hope mid week delivers.


Lifts normally operating:


- Paradise A B

- Shobunuma Number 2 pair

- Katakai triple

- Chuo Number 1 pair AB

- Chuo Number 2 pair AB

- Mikaeri pair

- Diamond Number 2 pair lift

- Utopia Number 2 pair lift

- Onsen Number 1 pair

- Onsen Number 3 Parallel A B

- Zao Chuo Ropeway / Zao Ropeway / Sky Cable


Ski course areas normally open:


- Chuo (part)

- Utopia

- Paradise (part)

- Shobunuma (part)

- Diamond (part)

- Uwanodai (part)


Official snow depths (as reported by resort):


- Summit area: 40cm

- Paradise area: 40cm

- Chuo area: 40cm

- Utopia area: 40cm

- Uwanodai area: 25cm

- Oomori area: 10cm



Zao Now 2019-2020 season

Data as of Sunday 5th January 2020 Total snowfall at base 75cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 16cm (on 5th December) November 2019 snowfall 8cm observed on 3 days December 2019 snowfall 51cm observed on 10 days January 2020 snowfall 16cm observed on 4 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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