There's now only a handful of runs that are now not available at Nozawa Onsen which is just brilliant considering it is not yet Christmas!

Some more fresh snow to report and for now a largely cloudy start to the day.

The very good news is that it is snowing and we expect a lot over the next few days.

Snow started by the afternoon yesterday, and quite heavy at times, though it eased off by night time.

Just a little snow yesterday morning post-report, but no more since then.

After some clearer and not-as-cold yesterday, we start this morning with a modest amount of fresh snow on the ground and the skijo is reporting 7cm overnight.

We had some clearer weather at times yesterday and so just a dusting since my early morning report yesterday really.

And we are back to snow. Not a huge amount...

There is some low lying cloud early morning but higher up the sun is shining through the clouds in places. Not clear skies, but it looks like a fine start to the day up there.

With 25cm of fresh being reported again from the top of the mountain, I am a bit surprised that more terrain/lifts aren't open this morning - the day seems to be starting with the same operations.

It is still very cloudy, but the sun is shining through at times from some breaks in the cloud.

The ski area has reported 22-27cm of snowfall up on the top area since yesterday morning, and I have another 15cm to add from base.

The ski area has reported 5-6cm of snow up top and there has just been a dusting lower down.

This morning there is still cloud around but blue sky too, and the sun is breaking through.