Today (or perhaps tomorrow depending on how smoothly the process goes) some big changes coming to SnowJapan - and the Niseko Now report too. Hope you like the new look.

Yesterday was a really warm day out there and temperatures didn't dip much overnight - warmest overnight I can remember this year - and this morning we have lovely blue skies over the Niseko region.

Good morning from Niseko. It's a warm one this morning. Clearer earlier on but more cloudy now with some foggy conditions meaning poor visibility on some of the upper slopes today and that actually affecting some of the lifts including the top King Number 4 at Niseko Grand Hirafu, the top Hanazono lift and the Hirafu Spring Park as of 10:30am.

Yesterday winds ended up affecting some lift operations on the mountain again but it seems today the resorts are getting ready to be open as normal.

April is starting with a lovely morning here in Niseko. And some new snow to enjoy out there as well, nice. Not peak season powder like snow, but fresh snowfall all the same.

We had a dusting of snow last night in Niseko though it didn't amount to much just a trace really here. I see that the report below is reporting 3cm. It might be the last day of Match, but it's still snowing.

Just when we thought those resort snow depth numbers were on their way down, we get some new snowfall and we're back up to 5m at Grand Hirafu. Yes, another 10+cm here in Hirafu this morning which is a nice start to the weekend.

It's a cloudy start to the day here. Temps dipped to just below freezing overnight and at the moment it is around 0 degrees here in the Hirafu base area.

Good morning from Hirafu and after a fine day yesterday, I have no new snowfall to report for you today.

The sun has indeed made an appearance and it looks like it will be the starring role today.

Another 30cm of fresh snow to report this morning from Niseko and another extremely cold morning. -10C out there... actually slightly colder than it was earlier on!

It has been a cloudy start to the day and it's nice and calm. Calm both in terms of weather and the number of people venturing out on the lifts.

Morning from Hirafu. It's a generally grey and cloudy one, very light snow falling overnight and given us a few more cm this morning and easing off now. Currently about -3 degrees here at base.

Another Saturday morning. Just a dusting of snow in Hirafu this morning to report though I expect more wind driven snow to be found on the mountain. It is around -4 degrees at the moment and generally cloudy.