Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 22cm Snowfall at base this season 315cm Posted on Thursday 11th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Good morning from Yuzawa. Yesterday we got more snow falling for lots of the day and this morning I have measured a further 22cm to add to what we got yesterday. I see this morning Kagura are reporting 10-20cm while Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 20cm. The last few days has really seen the kind of snowfall that we usually enjoy so often here. It's fantastic to suddenly see a fairly decent amount of snow piled up at the side of the roads - and to have to get out there and do some shovelling. Yes, shovelling is fun. I want to do lots more of it! This morning light snow has still been snowing and it's cloudier than we were led to believe it would be by the forecast but there are a few signs that it is gradually clearing so we might be left with clear(er) skies by the end of the day. It's a national holiday here in Japan (National Foundation Day) and so popular resorts will be busier than a usual weekday and with the fresh snowfall I'm sure lots of people will be visiting for the day to make the most of it as conditions should be great out there. Tomorrow sunshine is forecast and it's also going to start getting warmer with a high temperature here in town perhaps even getting close to 10 degrees. It really would be cruel (for want of a better word) for us to get rained on just after this fine dump of snow we have received. But we can't do anything about nature can we, so the only thing we can do is hope that the forecasts are off a bit. After all, they've hardly had a perfect track record this season! It would also really be cruel for the Naeba World Cup event to be marred by rain. The races themselves are being held at Naeba on Saturday and Sunday. Hope you can get to enjoy today and tomorrow, should be good! --- Resort official snow depths (Thursday 11th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 190cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 210cm Iwappara 170cm Joetsu Kokusai 170cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 160-180cm Maiko Snow Resort 220cm (upper) 120cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 180cm Naeba 130cm NASPA Ski Garden 175cm Yuzawa Kogen 170cm Yuzawa Nakazato 110cm Yuzawa Park 150cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Thursday 11th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 315cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 32 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 80cm reported on 7 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 18cm Snowfall at base this season 359cm Posted on Thursday 18th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Snow started falling yesterday morning. And it continued through the day - and it was coming down hard as well for quite a lot of the time. Result? Another 18cm of fresh snow outside my place. (I actually thought it would be more than that). Kagura reported 30cm of fresh snowfall during the day on their blog, and this morning just going with 5-10cm since last night (meaning that if you didn't read the blog bit, you'd think it was just 5-10cm rather than 35-40cm! I know if I had a ski-jo, I'd be shouting out about these numbers especially in a season like this!) This morning Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 15-20cm of fresh snow. But anyway, excellent. These snowfalls are what feels like 'normal' for us! The snow eased off late last night and the skies cleared, leaving us with a beautiful clear blue sky early morning. It's going to be a very fine day with sun forecast and temperatures to rise to perhaps 6-7 degrees. That means that early tracks this morning should be fantastic pretty much wherever you choose to go - perhaps just more fantastic in higher places. Depending on just how much it does warm up this afternoon, conditions may change later on. So, get out there early and make the most of it! Tomorrow should also be generally good clear weather as well by the way. (I'll deal with the weekend weather in the report tomorrow - in the meantime do take a look at the forecast below for that). --- Resort official snow depths (Wednesday 17th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Not updated today as it's too early - this data will be updated again tomorrow. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 180cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 160cm Iwappara 160cm Joetsu Kokusai 150cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 150-160cm Maiko Snow Resort 185cm (upper) 75cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 150cm Naeba 120cm NASPA Ski Garden 130cm Yuzawa Kogen 160cm Yuzawa Nakazato 95cm Yuzawa Park 100cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Thursday 18th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 359cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 34 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 124cm reported on 9 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 7cm Snowfall at base this season 380cm Posted on Thursday 25th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Morning from Yuzawa and I'm happy to report that there's some more fresh snow to report. After the snow during the morning yesterday, there was a period during the afternoon when the sun was out and some blue sky but it was snowing once again in the evening and has been overnight as well. It's another modest amount... 7cm of fresh on the ground here since yesterday morning; and just for the record, Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 10cm, Kagura are reporting 5-10cm and Naeba are reporting 10cm of fresh snowfall. Right now light snow continues to fall though it has eased off just to the north with a few small patches of blue sky visible. The forecasts generally give us light snow during the morning and a bit of sunshine this afternoon with temperatures not rising much above zero during the day. The 6-day forecast still has fairly regular light snowfall lined up with the most likely around Monday (though there may be a bit more rain sometime around the late weekend). --- By the end of February last season we had observed a whopping 1207cm (12+m!) of snowfall here in Yuzawa town - with the majority of that falling in the very snowy months of December 2014 and January 2015. 228cm of snowfall was observed in these reports during the month of February 2015. So far this February I have observed 145cm of snow, and the number for the season as a whole is currently standing at just 380cm. Once we got into March last season there was just another 96cm of snow left to fall at town level through until the end of the season. The season before (2013-2014), 196cm of snow fell from the beginning of March until the end of the season, so a decent March is definitely not beyond hope. I think it's reasonable to say that we'd need a buck in the trend of the season as a whole so far for that to happen though. Onegai shimasu! --- Resort official snow depths (Thursday 25th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 170cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 130cm Joetsu Kokusai 160cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 115-150cm Maiko Snow Resort 170cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 160cm Naeba 120cm NASPA Ski Garden 125cm Yuzawa Kogen 150cm Yuzawa Nakazato 95cm Yuzawa Park 90cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Thursday 25th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 380cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 37 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 145cm reported on 12 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 5cm Snowfall at base this season 385cm Posted on Friday 26th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . It's one of those days when you really want to get out for first tracks. A beautiful morning here. Blue sky and sunshine, with a bit of fresh snow again underfoot. Yesterday snow was falling for large parts of the day, but it was generally very light and didn't amount to much in terms of new cm. There has been some more snow fall overnight and another 5cm here on the ground this morning. Maiko are reporting 5-10cm of fresh and Kagura 3-5cm this morning. And as I said, the sun is out and we have lots of blue skies above. Some cloud around but for the moment it's mostly clear. Quite a chilly start to the day and fingers crossed it won't warm up too much above zero today. The local Yahoo forecast has us down for snow/cloud for the day, but them being totally wrong would come as no surprise seeing as though that's been pretty much their record for the season! The more reliable 6-day forecast (below) does also actually have snow showers for the day after a sunny start and so perhaps the clouds will be rolling in sometime this morning or this afternoon. There is a bank of clouds visible over to the north of the Minamiuonuma valley right now. It looks like the weekend should be a mix up of weather conditions as well - including the chance of some snow - and as so often has been the case this year, hard to read. I'd guess that there's a good chance of a sunny day tomorrow along with warmer conditions once again. (That 'heavy snow' for Monday night looks good too. Less so the chance of rain around Sunday). --- Resort official snow depths (Friday 26th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 180cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 140cm Iwappara 130cm Joetsu Kokusai 160cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 130-155cm Maiko Snow Resort 170cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 160cm Naeba 130cm NASPA Ski Garden 125cm Yuzawa Kogen 150cm Yuzawa Nakazato 95cm Yuzawa Park 95cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Friday 26th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 385cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 38 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 150cm reported on 13 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 5cm Snowfall at base this season 364cm Posted on Monday 22nd February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Hello and good morning from Yuzawa where there's some fresh snow on the ground. We had to put up with rain for quite a bit of yesterday down in town level though I hear it was snowing at times at higher elevations. Down here as well it was trying to snow at times, and by evening it eventually did turn into snow - and we have 5cm of new snow on the ground this morning. Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 5-10cm of snowfall and Kagura are reporting 5cm, so it looks like you can expect around 5cm of fresh out there on the slopes this morning. Obviously that's not as much as we would have liked and not enough to totally refresh conditions, but an improvement. It has still been snowing since I got up, but is expected to ease off any time now leaving us with a mostly cloudy day. We might get to see some sunshine tomorrow morning along with the seemingly ever-present 'warmer than average' temperatures, rising to around +6 or +7C. Good news is we should be back to snow on Wednesday and some decent snowfall is currently on the forecast for later on Friday as well, so fingers crossed! --- Recently it has been getting noticeable how the days appear to be getting longer and it getting darker later on. --- Resort official snow depths (Monday 22nd February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 160cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 130cm Joetsu Kokusai 160cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 120-140cm Maiko Snow Resort 165cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 160cm Naeba 120cm NASPA Ski Garden 110cm Yuzawa Kogen 140cm Yuzawa Nakazato 90cm Yuzawa Park 90cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Monday 22nd February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 364cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 35 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 129cm reported on 10 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 1cm Snowfall at base this season 386cm Posted on Saturday 27th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Good morning from Yuzawa. Yesterday started off with those clear blue skies but by late morning mostly thin cloud had covered lots of the sky and it was even snowing lightly in a few higher areas and down to town for a short while as well. It didn't amount to much though. I think I heard the sprinklers overnight as well but there's just a dusting down here in town since yesterday... just about give it 1cm. Kagura are this morning saying that there's 2-5cm of fresh snow on their slopes with Maiko Snow Resort reporting 3cm of fresh. So just a bit. This morning it's another bright start. There's a bit more of a hazy feel to the blue skies this morning and it does look like it's going to be a very mild day again - perhaps temperatures rising to around +6 degrees at town level. There may be some slight snowfall tonight again but don't expect anything significant. Tomorrow is likely to be more cloudy than today but temperatures are forecast to be around the same. Later in the day on Monday is still looking good -- on the forecast anyway. Once we get into Wednesday though expect a spell of sunny skies and warmer conditions. --- Resort official snow depths (Saturday 27th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 180cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 140cm Iwappara 130cm Joetsu Kokusai 180cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 130-155cm Maiko Snow Resort 170cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 160cm Naeba 130cm NASPA Ski Garden 115cm Yuzawa Kogen 150cm Yuzawa Nakazato 95cm Yuzawa Park 90cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Saturday 27th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 386cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 39 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 151cm reported on 14 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 9cm Snowfall at base this season 373cm Posted on Wednesday 24th February 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . It started raining yesterday evening and was still raining last time I was outside at 10:30am, but the very good news is that this morning we have woken to some fresh snow on the ground. Hurray! Early on Kagura are reporting 10cm, while Maiko Snow Resort report 5-10cm... and I have just measured 9cm outside my place at town level at 8:30am. Better still is that it is still snowing now as I write the report. We can probably expect it to ease off sometime around lunchtime, so we just want as much as possible to fall before then (of course). Next up after today in terms of snowfall (or more than potential very light snow) looks like it should be Friday and then later in the weekend as well. Let's see if we can have a good end to the month of February and start to March. --- Resort official snow depths (Wednesday 24th February 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 170cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 130cm Joetsu Kokusai 160cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 120-140cm Maiko Snow Resort 170cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 160cm Naeba 120cm NASPA Ski Garden 115cm Yuzawa Kogen 140cm Yuzawa Nakazato 90cm Yuzawa Park 85cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Wednesday 24th February 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 373cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 36 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 138cm reported on 11 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 22cm Snowfall at base this season 408cm Posted on Tuesday 1st March 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Good morning from Yuzawa. And this is the kind of report I like writing... This morning Kagura are reporting an impressive 40-50cm of fresh snow since yesterday and Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 30+cm on their slopes. Here in town outside my place I have measured 22cm of lovely snow on the ground. That's more like it, great to see a decent amount of snow. This is what we are used to here! It started off raining quite a lot yesterday but turned into snowfall and by evening there was a layer of snow on the ground with more joining it overnight. Snow is forecast for the day today and also hopefully into tomorrow as well, though perhaps just light snow rather than heavy. Actually just at the moment the snow has stopped falling and it's fairly bright. Hopefully that is just a temporary break rather than a clear up. So this morning conditions should be great and definitely one to make the most of. Strong winds seem to be affecting operations at Kagura with only the Mitsumata area open this morning with the chance of parts of Kagura opening depending on conditions. (That means that there'll be lots of untouched up there on the main Kagura areas tomorrow). Once these snow clouds clear up, I'm afraid there isn't much more snow to be seen on the 6-day forecast. Rather it looks like it's going to really warm up by the weekend. Let's deal with that nearer the time. For now though, a very good morning! --- Resort official snow depths (Tuesday 1st March 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: Some numbers have not yet been updated as the report went online Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 160cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 130cm Iwappara 110cm Joetsu Kokusai 160cm Kagura 160cm (Mitsumata) 190cm (Tashiro) 220cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 115-145cm Maiko Snow Resort 155cm (upper) 50cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 180cm Naeba 130cm NASPA Ski Garden 105cm Yuzawa Kogen 150cm Yuzawa Nakazato 80cm Yuzawa Park 80cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Tuesday 1st March 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 408cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 40 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 34cm (10th February) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 143cm reported on 18 days February 2016 snowfall 151cm reported on 14 days March 2016 snowfall 22cm reported on 1 day Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 6cm Snowfall at base this season 111cm Posted on Friday 8th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Good morning from Yuzawa... and what a beautiful morning it is! The sun is out and it's mostly blue skies over Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma with just a few clouds hanging on here and there. There's more cloud just to the north and if the forecast of a cloudy day with snow due to fall later on in the day comes through, they may be about to move in on our area. Somehow it doesn't feel like they will though - not just yet. But you want to know about the snowfall yesterday, don't you? Here's the headlines: Kagura reporting 10-15cm this morning (unclear how that fits in with the 15-20cm they were reporting early afternoon yesterday!) Naeba reporting 20cm Maiko Snow Resort reporting 10cm. A few resorts upping their official snow depths by up to 20cm today. Me? 6cm fell outside my place. The snow eased off later in the evening. So, not a huge amount and certainly not 'enough', but of course a very welcome refresh and it was good to see it snowing. It was quite heavy at times, though those times didn't last long enough. One characteristic of the snowfall this season has been just that... we've not enjoyed full-on blizzard like snowfall for prolonged periods. But might we get some of that this coming weekend? Maybe. There's more snowfall forecast for later today (from this afternoon?) and as we enter tomorrow. Sunday may start with sunshine but some potentially decent snowfall is on the forecast again for later in the day and for Monday. The main thing is if it can get - and keep - good and cold. It's a 3-day weekend coming up in Japan as Monday is 'Coming of Age Day'. Usually this is one of the popular weekends of the season and so I would expect resorts to be busy, a good early start is recommended. --- A recap on the status of major resort areas: Most resorts are struggling with the lack of snow. Some lower courses are now either not open or getting narrow and struggling to remain open and might have to if there is no refill soon. Here's some few resort specific information, by no means complete but hopefully of help to get an idea of where resorts are at this moment: The Kagura resort areas remain (close to) fully open. They were reporting 15-20cm of fresh up top by early afternoon yesterday, and 10-15cm this morning; A fair section of Naeba is open with a decent refresh yesterday, connection with Tashiro remains open; The Central and North areas of GALA Yuzawa are mostly open (the downhill Falcon course is not open); All of the lifts and six out of eight courses at Yuzawa Kogen are open; Most of the courses at Kandatsu Kogen are open (90% of the area); Most of the central area of Iwappara is open (top area not open); Four courses at NASPA Ski Garden area open with four lifts operating; Most of Ishiuchi Maruyama is open but some lower areas closed (in those places get the lift back down); The upper Okusoeji area and part of the Maiko area of Maiko Snow Resort are open (get the gondola back down from Okusoeji); 12 courses at Joetsu Kokusai are open. --- Resort official snow depths (Friday 8th January 2016) and any specific news: All resorts in the area are now generally open for the season, though please note that some areas and courses are not open. Generally steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed. The snow yesterday helped but we're still low on snow, especially lower course areas. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 110cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 70cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 85cm Maiko Snow Resort 80cm (upper) 30cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 50cm Naeba 60cm NASPA Ski Garden 60cm Yuzawa Kogen 70cm Yuzawa Nakazato 50cm Yuzawa Park 35cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Friday 8th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 111cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (28th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 92cm reported on 7 days January 2016 snowfall 19cm reported on 2 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 28cm Snowfall at base this season 61cm Posted on Monday 28th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Yesterday was the first really proper winter-like day of the season. Good snowfall, cold temperatures, something of a wind. It felt good shovelling the snow! There has been no new snowfall overnight here in town which is a bit of a surprise, but during the day yesterday since my morning report there was nearly 30cm of snow fall. And nice and light snow too. Expect more than that amount up on the mountains of course. This morning we are being treated to lots of blue skies and sunshine over the Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma areas. There is lots of cloud to the north, but our valleys are having a beautiful morning. It is cold too with lots of frosty and icy conditions outside. Again, that makes it all feel like proper winter which is great. It shouldn't warm up too much during the day today and then later on clouds are again expected to bring more snow. Snow is forecast for the day tomorrow as well, so let's hope we can build on the base that we now have. Most of the resorts in the area are going to be open from today. There's still a few that we can't confirm at the time of writing but generally it's a case of resorts being mostly at least part open. Some more than others. Details for each resort have been updated below. If we get more snow tonight and into tomorrow, hopefully it won't be long before everywhere is just "OPEN". Won't that be good?! In the meantime it should be a very fine morning out there. Nice weather and fresh snow. Remember, the snow is by no means particularly deep yet, so take care... there's probably going to be things sticking up out of the snow in places. --- Resort operations (Monday 28th 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 More of Naeba is now open. The Number 2, 3, 4 and 5 Courses as well as the Number 4 high speed course, Takenokodaira, Daishamen and Downhill Courses are open. From today the Number 3 high speed lift and Prince Number 1 Gondola will also be operating. GALA Yuzawa 8 courses are now open at GALA Yuzawa. The Chuo area is open and part of the North Area of the resort. Ipponsugi Ipponsugi plans to be open from this morning. Ishiuchi Maruyama A decent area of Ishiuchi Maruyama is open from this morning. Iwappara Iwappara is part open with the Number 2 and 3 pair lifts and also the Chuo quad lift operating. Joetsu Kokusai Joetsu Kokusai is part open with a number of lifts operating. Kandatsu Kogen Kandatsu Kogen is part open with four lifts (Tozawa, Onaka, Ikenodaira and Shiraitayama) operating. Itsukamachi Itsukamachi plans to be part open from this morning. Maiko Snow Resort Maiko Snow Resort is part open. Most of the top Okusoeji area is open and also the Paradise course of the Maiko area is now open. Muikamachi Hakkaisan More of Hakkai-san is open from today with the Ropeway, Number 1 and Number 3 lifts operating. Muikamachi Ski Resort Muikamachi Ski Resort is open from this morning with the Number 2 pair lift operating. NASPA Ski Garden NASPA Ski Garden will be part open this morning with the Number 3 and 4 lifts operating. Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Kogen is open from this morning with the Ropeway, Cosmos pair lift, top Panorama lift and Nunoba family lift operating. Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Nakazato is part open from today with the Number 2 Romance lift, Number 3 Romance lift and Number 2 lifts operating. Yuzawa Park Yuzawa Park is part open from today with the Number 7 lift operating. All other resorts will also be open as soon as possible: Openings for these areas unconfirmed at the time of writing Chateau Shiozawa Hakkaisanroku Ludens Yuzawa Mt Granview Nakazato Snow Wood Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Monday 28th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 61cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 5 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (28th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 61cm reported on 5 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 22cm Snowfall at base this season 83cm Posted on Tuesday 29th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . The sun was out yesterday morning over the region. Lovely. And the snow quality was pretty good too actually. There wasn't enough of it yet of course - patches of ground and things sticking up through it in places, especially on lower runs that are open, and it was a bit uneven riding... but decent all the same. And of course everyone happy to be able to get open at last! Snow was falling to the north of Yuzawa and in parts of Minamiuonuma by late morning and early afternoon, but the clouds remained generally to the north of Yuzawa for the day. By late night though snow was falling again and I have the very good news of another decent delivery of snow this morning. There was just over 20cm of fresh snow on the car this morning and resorts around town are reporting 20-30cm of new snowfall. Excellent news. It's continuing to snow as well this morning and fingers crossed it will continue into tomorrow morning and so we should be getting more cm. Resorts are now starting to be able to open up more with this new snow. Some are now close to fully open, with others still 'part' open. But I think I am correct in saying that all resorts in the area are now at least part open, which is great news. Expect more courses to be open today and tomorrow especially if we do get a decent snowfall during the day today. I have updated the information for each resort below, but here are a few other headlines: The legendary Mt Granview should be open this morning. The Dragondola connecting Naeba with the Tashiro area of Kagura is starting to operate from this morning. The lift ticket/connection between Yuzawa Kogen <> GALA Yuzawa <> Ishiuchi Maruyama is available from this morning - but importantly note that until the South Area of GALA Yuzawa opens up - not yet - you need to get a bus from the base of Yuzawa Kogen to GALA Yuzawa. I think that is about it for now. I look forward to bringing you news of more snow tomorrow morning. --- Resort operations (Tuesday 29th December 2015) - subject to change: Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa The Central Area and most of the North Area are now open. Ipponsugi Ipponsugi is now open. Iwappara A large area of Iwappara is now open. Joetsu Kokusai Most areas of Joetsu Kokusai are now open. 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 now operating. Kandatsu Kogen Kandatsu Kogen is 80% open with four lifts (Tozawa, Onaka, Ikenodaira and Shiraitayama) operating. Ludens Yuzawa Ludens Yuzawa is now open. Naeba Large areas of Naeba are now open. The Dragondola connecting Naeba with Tashiro is now operating. Nakazato Snow Wood Nakazato Snow Wood is now open. NASPA Ski Garden All of the lifts at NASPA Ski Garden are now operating and most of the courses are open. Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Kogen is open with the Ropeway, Kogen Express, Cosmos pair lift, top Panorama lift and Nunoba family lift operating. Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Nakazato is part open from today with the Number 2 Romance lift, Number 3 Romance lift and Number 2 lifts operating. Yuzawa Park Yuzawa Park is part open. Resorts in Minamiuonuma: Chateau Shiozawa Chateau Shiozawa is part open from today. Hakkaisanroku Hakkai Sanroku is now open. Ishiuchi Maruyama Most of Ishiuchi Maruyama is now open. Itsukamachi Itsukamachi is now part open. Maiko Snow Resort More of Maiko Snow Resort is now open. The top Okusoeji area is open (need to take Gondola back down), as well as the Paradise and Family courses of the Maiko area. Mt Granview Mt Granview plans to be open from today! Muikamachi Hakkaisan Most of Hakkai-san is now open. Muikamachi Ski Resort Muikamachi Ski Resort is now open. Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Tuesday 29th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 83cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 6 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 28cm (28th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 83cm reported on 6 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 4cm Snowfall at base this season 23cm Posted on Saturday 26th December 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . It's good to see some white again. Not a huge amount - just under 5cm outside here - but there will be more on the mountains. Kagura resort are reporting 10-15cm of fresh. Yesterday was a mostly wet day again though it turned into sleet and snow later in the dark, with this snowfall overnight. This morning there are actually blue skies in places and the sun is out. It's just over 0 degrees right now and will be getting a little warmer during the day today but hopefully not too much. Later on precipitation is due again... might start as rain here in town but should soon be snow. Overnight tonight and tomorrow is still the period to look to for potentially heavy snow. It's still there on the forecast. Resorts around town are taking things day by day now. For example, NASPA Ski Garden has announced that it plans to open on Monday (28th) - all being well with the snowfall tomorrow. I would expect similar plans at other resorts. It all depends on how much snow falls. (Obviously!) All we can do is wait. Or enjoy the resorts that remain open. Evening update: It has been an odd kind of day really here, with fine clear blue skies opening up during the daytime. The forecast was insisting it was going to be raining during the daytime, but at one point there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was keeping on the mild side as well with a high of about 6 degrees around lunchtime. This evening there's a few spots of rain but snow is apparently imminent. Looks like it might be early tomorrow morning when temperatures really take a decent drop. Up to 30cm of snow is expected higher up on the mountains and up to 15cm expected around Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma town areas. That is what is forecast up until 10am tomorrow morning and it should be snowing all day tomorrow. So things are looking promising. Let's see how things are come report time tomorrow morning. By the way, with Kagura currently the place where there's the most area open, they were really very busy today with overflowing car parks. Expect more of that tomorrow too and until there's more choice. --- Resorts that are now at least part open (Saturday 25th December 2015) - subject to change: Kagura Almost all of Kagura is now open. Both Ropeways (Mitsumata and Tashiro) are open and you can ski or snowboard from one to the other. The only areas now closed at Kagura are the very top pair lift, one of the main Mitsumata slopes and the Mitsumata downhill course back to base. Naeba Lower Number 4 and 5 courses are open (with the help of artificial snow) and the upper Takenokodaira course is open (100% natural snow). GALA Yuzawa GALA Yuzawa is part open - the Melody and part of the Entertainment courses in the main Central Area are open. Muikamachi Hakkaisan The Technical course and Rakuraku A courses open with just two pair lifts operating (one to get to the open area). Resorts on standby to open as soon as there is enough snow to open: Chateau Shiozawa Hakkaisanroku Ipponsugi Ishiuchi Maruyama Iwappara Kagura (Tashiro) Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Muikamachi Ski Resort Nakazato Snow Wood NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Park Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Saturday 26th December 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 23cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 15cm (18th December) November 2015 snowfall 0cm December 2015 snowfall 23cm reported on 3 days Previous report Next report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Yuzawa. The 'new snowfall' number represents the amount of snow measured since the previous report. All opinions are those of the individual reporters. Information regarding ski area operations is manually checked every morning and is believed to be correct at the time of the report. SnowJapan is an entirely independent operation. Our daily reports are not posted on behalf of ski areas or any other business or organisation. Since first going online in 1999, the integrity of this website has always been our top priority, and it is something we are not prepared to compromise. All content is carefully created and written by humans who share a passion for the subject and what SnowJapan stands for. About SnowJapan.com About the daily reporting on SnowJapan.com