Yesterday was interesting (and fun). It was good to get some new snow up there, though a few people questioning whether those numbers bandied about yesterday were real - up to 30cm? Exact numbers aside, there was fresh snow up there, it was snowing on and off into the afternoon, and it was most certainly a bonus for this weekend.

By mid afternoon more and more clearings of clouds and more blue sky appeared. It turned into a really nice late afternoon actually.

This morning we have a layer of cloud hanging around the peaks of the mountains but apart from that lots of lovely blue skies above the cloud. Very probably the cloud will clear up by mid morning. As of 9am it's about 9 degrees here in Hakuba village area, with a high of about 13 degrees.

Tomorrow is of course a national holiday - Showa Day, in fact - and it is forecast to be a mix of cloud and sun along with warmer conditions. Quite a lot of people around for this first part of Golden Week.

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Official snow depths and operations @ Sunday 28th April 2013 AM:

Hakuba Goryu:
The following lifts planned to be operating - Gondola, upper Number 1-4 pair lifts.
Official snow depths:
Alps daira - 140cm;
Toomi - 0cm

Hakuba 47:
The following lifts planned to be operating - Gondola, Line AB, C and E.
Official snow depth:
Upper - 130cm
Lower - 15cm

Happo-one:
The following lifts planned to be operating - Gondola, Alpen quad, Kurobishi Number 2 quad, Kurobishi Number 3 pair, Hakuba Kokusai Number 3 pair, Kokusai Number 1 pair, Panorama pair, Skyline Number 2 pair, Grat quad, Usagidaira pair (Golden Week only)
Official snow depth:
Usagidaira - 125cm
Lower - 0cm

Tsugaike Kogen:
The following lifts planned to be operating - Gondola, Ropeway, Tsuga Number 2 pair, Hannoki pair.
Official snow depth:
Upper slopes - 170cm
Lower slopes - 0cm

Hakuba Iwatake Snow Field, Hakuba Sanosaka, Hakuba Cortina and Hakuna Minekata resorts are now closed for the season.