There's a slight bit of sun out at the moment over parts of the valley as I start writing this report, but that's definitely not the story of the last 24 hours.

Lots to report this morning.

The rain didn't do us any favors yesterday in terms of melt and snow conditions... but quickly and happily moving on, snow is about to make another hopefully dramatic entrance.

A cloudy day forecast today with snow at times, one of those times being now and it will be staying cold not straying too far above the zero mark.

There has been another 5-10cm or so of fresh snow in the village and base areas this morning.

Well, well, it's all very exciting this morning.

More snow to report this morning and I'm happy to report that today marks the official start of the season in Hakuba with Happo-one part opening from 9am this morning.

I was just over at Hakuba 47 where there's about 10cm of fresh snow on the ground.

Not that much going on down at village level for the most part, coming down nicely at one point yesterday evening, but better news higher up on the mountains.