The day started off overcast with low light making the dips and bumps in the ground difficult to see.

Happy New Year from Furano! If you didn't get too festive last night you are probably already on the lifts making first tracks for 2013 in the new snow that fell yesterday and overnight.

Well if you were in the resort over the weekend you will have experienced the extremes of the good and not so good.

It's currently -3 and snowing outside, but the big story today is the wind whipping around out there.

It was an absolutely gorgeous blue-sky day today.

The grooming team have done a great job overnight and the corduroy patterns running down the mountain look very inviting for those able to make it up for a few runs early in the day.

The cold temperatures are persisting today along with the wind which is variable at the moment between light and moderate.

A belated Merry Christmas to all the Furano Now readers and apologies that Furano Now was unable to get a report out yesterday.

It was a fantastic weekend with some superb snow on the slopes, and the new week has kicked off with an amazing sunny day with crisp blue skies.

We're off to a cold start this morning in Furano.

The temperatures have been relatively warm for this time of year, climbing as high as -2 for the afternoon highs.

It is currently snowing lightly and there has been a couple of centimetres accumulation on the ground in the village.

There has been a further 10cm of new snow since yesterdays report so once again expect some great powder conditions.

It is all good news today in Furano with snow falling heavily from early this morning there is already accumulation of 10cm on the ground at base level.