Yesterday at one point there were almost clear blue skies over the region - somehow it had turned into a beautiful day. Better than rain for sure.

Clouds moved in later on in the afternoon and then in the evening it had started raining (trying to snow at times) with the sound of thunder as well. I went to bed last night listening to heavy rain making lots of noise on my roof and not in the best of moods.... just when will it turn to snow?

But I am very happy to report good news from the Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma areas this morning. We are enjoying proper winter-like snow this morning.

There was 10cm of snow on the ground earlier on (any further snowfall since then will be in tomorrows report) and resorts have been reporting up to 20cm of snow. Snow continues to fall now and it's coming down nicely too, so fingers crossed it can continue building up. The forecast does promise snow for the day today; perhaps a break in the snowfall early morning tomorrow but more in the afternoon and tomorrow night. It goes without saying that we want as much as possible.

There's lots of news and activity from the resorts around Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma as well.

Maiko Snow Resort, Joetsu Kokusai and Muikamachi Ski Resort have already part re-opened; Kandatsu Kogen and Iwappara resorts are opening from 12 noon today.

For resorts that were already open - more of GALA Yuzawa is open this morning and Naeba are preparing to get their Daishamen pair lift operating as well.

The NASPA Ski Garden and Ishiuchi Maruyama resorts are both planning to open from tomorrow morning.

That's the updates that I have available now and there may be more news during the day as resorts do their best to open as quickly as possible. I hope that we haven't missed anything. It feels like it's a case of mad panic this morning for many people, though everyone is of course very happy to finally see decent snow coming down. It feels like winter has arrived, finally. Now let's hope that we can keep this winter mode going.

We'll be checking everything again and updating the details again for you in the morning.

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Resort operations (Sunday 27th December 2015) - subject to change:

Kagura
Almost all of the courses and lifts at Kagura are now open.
The only areas not open yet are the top pair lift and the Mitsumata downhill course back to base.
The top pair lift (Kagura Number 5 Romance lift) plans to be open this season from 1st January.
The Dragondola connecting Tashiro with Naeba is not yet open.

Naeba
Lower Number 4 and 5 courses are open as well as the upper Takenokodaira course.
In addition, the Daishamen Romance lift and Number 4 high speed lifts are planned to be operating sometime today as well.

GALA Yuzawa
More of GALA Yuzawa is open this morning.
Most of the Chuo area is now open and part of the North Area as well.

Iwappara
Iwappara will be open from 12 noon today. They are hoping to have their Number 2 pair and Number 3 pair lifts operating.

Joetsu Kokusai
Joetsu Kokusai has a number of lifts operating from this morning.

Kandatsu Kogen
Kandatsu Kogen will be open from 12 noon today with three lifts (Tozawa, Onaka and Ikenodaira) operating.

Maiko Snow Resort
Maiko Snow Resort re-opens this morning with 6 upper Okusoeji area courses open via the Gondola.
Take the Gondola up and down as the lower areas are not open.

Muikamachi Hakkaisan
The Technical course and Rakuraku A courses open with the Ropeway and Number 3 Romance lift operating.

Muikamachi Ski Resort
Muikamachi Ski Resort is open from this morning with the Number 2 pair lift operating.

Confirmed news of openings:

NASPA Ski Garden
NASPA Ski Garden plans to open at 8:30am tomorrow morning (Monday).

Ishiuchi Maruyama
Ishiuchi Maruyama plans to open tomorrow (Monday).

Yuzawa Kogen
Yuzawa Kogen plans to open tomorrow (Monday).

All other resorts will also be open as soon as possible:
Openings for these areas either not possible or unconfirmed at the time of writing

Chateau Shiozawa
Hakkaisanroku
Ipponsugi
Itsukamachi
Ludens Yuzawa
Mt Granview
Nakazato Snow Wood
Yuzawa Nakazato
Yuzawa Park

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List of ski resorts in Yuzawa town
List of ski resorts in Minamiuonuma City

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Iwappara 6 day snow and weather forecast
NASPA Ski Garden 6 day snow and weather forecast
Kagura 6 day snow and weather forecast