Independent snow and weather reporting from the Niseko region of Hokkaido New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 1144cm Posted on Wednesday 6th May 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here Wednesday 6th May 2015. The last day of the official ski season in Niseko (though no doubt some people will be hiking up places beyond tomorrow to access remaining snow). It's a fine morning with a mix of blue sky and cloud. I'll try not to dwell on the strong wind conditions that are messing with lifts on this final morning of the season. Unfortunately as I write this, only the lower Jumbo Number 1 lift at Annupuri and the Ace Number 2 Center four quad and Ace Number 3 lifts at Hirafu are moving, limiting options for everyone wanting to get in their last turns. Naughty wind. Anyway enough of that and onto my 'season summary' bit. The first day of the season – and by that I mean when the first ski lift started moving - was Friday 5th December 2014. If my calculations are correct, that means that the season here has lasted some 153 days. Now that the season is over, here’s my last look at the various data. As always, a bit of a ‘disclaimer’ before anyone gets upset... my numbers are observed by myself each day, from the same open spot here in Hirafu. As you might expect, there’ll often be more snow on the upper areas of the mountain – perhaps around 50% more. The quoted Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) numbers are the official numbers that they record from Kutchan town, a bit lower down than here at Hirafu base. All of the archived Niseko Now daily reports are always available to read on SnowJapan, so if you want to get a complete detailed picture of the season - and indeed previous seasons - then please do equip yourself with a big cup of your preferred beverage, sit down and have a good read! You can find all of the archives at the bottom of this page. The numbers in brackets below are the accumulative numbers over the season. November My observed numbers: November 2014: 30cm November 2013: 123cm JMA Kutchan numbers: November 2014: 41cm November 2013: 99cm It was something of a late start to the season this time round, with considerably more snow falling in November 2013. In fact, resorts wanted to be opening on 23rd November and people were starting to get a bit worried with the season only got started on 5th December... December My observed numbers: December 2014: 519cm (549cm) December 2013: 275m (398cm) JMA Kutchan numbers: December 2014: 387cm (428cm) December 2013: 258cm (357cm) Once it started snowing though, it decided to do so in style for the month of December. Take a look at my Hirafu numbers in particular... we got tons of snow falling in December 2014 with the total snowfall easily overtaking the previous season despite the later start. Loads of snow. An excellent December. January My observed numbers: January 2015: 257cm (806cm) January 2014: 461cm (859cm) JMA numbers: January 2015: 230cm (658cm) January 2014: 317cm (674cm) The interesting thing about the months of December and January over the last two seasons is how they kind of swapped positions. The month with the most fresh snowfall in 2014-2015 season was easily December, with January not delivering us as much fresh. It was completely the other way round in the 2013-2014 season with January being the month experiencing the most fresh snowfall. I don't have numbers in front of me but I would expect last season to be the more 'normal' pattern. The pattern over the last two seasons can very clearly be seen if you compare the graphs on SnowJapan’s observed snowfall comparison page (below). It wasn’t just Niseko but most regions of Japan seemed to get more snow in December than January. I can imagine it makes it all the more difficult to choose when to visit... February My observed numbers: February 2015: 196cm (1002cm) February 2014: 178cm (1037cm) JMA Kutchan numbers: February 2015: 167cm (825cm) February 2014: 130cm (804cm) March My observed numbers: March 2015: 139cm (1141cm) March 2014: 113cm (1150cm) JMA Kutchan numbers: March 2015: 141cm (966cm) March 2014: 118cm (922cm) April My observed numbers: April 2015: 3cm (1144cm) April 2014: 13cm (1163cm) JMA Kutchan numbers: April 2015: 3cm (969cm) April 2014: 24m (946cm) The remaining three months of the season saw largely comparable numbers, and of course both seasons ended up with a similar total, with around 11.5m of snow being observed falling here in Hirafu. Not bad hey? Remember all of this data is shown in that lovely little table further down this page; I encourage you to take a look at the data and Now reports on SnowJapan from other areas of Japan, not just Niseko. (It's all very interesting - and for resort base areas, there was actually one area that got over 4m more snow than Niseko!) >>> It has been another very busy season for Niseko with more people visiting from more places around the world. Lots of languages to be heard. Even including some Japanese! ;) A real party atmosphere going on in the main areas with a bustling nightlife. More people and an ever growing reputation with skiers and snowboarders around the world means that the slopes are getting more crowded though, with a huge rush to the powder on a fresh powder morning... lie-in's not recommended. There have been too many days affected by strong winds again of course. I do feel for people who visit and find lifts not moving. Still, nowhere can be perfect I suppose. And of course there have also been many fantastic days with the beautiful snow conditions that we expect. >>> So there you have it. That was the 2014-2015 season. I enjoyed it and I hope that you did too if you managed to get here. Thank you very much for reading the Niseko Now reports on SnowJapan this season. I hope that you enjoyed following them and found them to be useful - it's a bit scary almost seeing just how many people actually read these reports. I try not to think about that when writing them. I will gambarimasu once more next season - please do tell your friends. I also want to say once again that I (and SnowJapan) appreciate the comments and suggestions that people send in about the reports and the site in general. If you want to get in touch please just use the Contact form on SnowJapan - if it's about these reports, it'll get to me! Anyway I am going to enjoy a bit of a rest now. Hopefully it will be a fine summer up here in Hokkaido. As you are no doubt aware, it’s a very fine place to be when there’s no snow around as well. >>> I will be back posting new Niseko Now reports here on SnowJapan in the autumn when the 2015-2016 season is approaching. No doubt the ski resorts will once again be aiming to open in the later part of November. Until then, thank you and goodbye. Niseko Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 6th May 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 1144cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 83 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 45cm (15th & 26th December and 11th February) November 2014 snowfall 30cm reported on 5 days December 2014 snowfall 519cm reported on 25 days January 2015 snowfall 257cm reported on 23 days February 2015 snowfall 196cm reported on 18 days March 2015 snowfall 139cm reported on 11 days April 2015 snowfall 3cm reported on 1 day May 2015 snowfall 0cm Previous report All snowfall data presented on this page is the snowfall measured and observed at base/town level by our reporter based in Kutchan/Niseko. 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 Furano region of Hokkaido New snowfall at base 5cm Snowfall at base this season 20cm Posted on Sunday 7th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Furano Now report can be found here . WE ARE OPEN! Yep, congratulations resort guys - they worked some magic with the machines and the bottom lift is now open for winter fun. Just a bit more of a sprinkling overnight but it is now falling steadily giving us great confidence going into the week that more lifts will open soon. Weather has changed a bit too now that snow is here and its gone from being bitter cold to quite nice out there. Maybe its just great feeling the snow on the face again. Furano Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 7th December 2014 Total snowfall at base 20cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 2 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 15cm (4th November) November 2014 snowfall 15cm reported on 1 day December 2014 snowfall 5cm 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 Furano. 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 Niseko region of Hokkaido New snowfall at base 20cm Snowfall at base this season 879cm Posted on Saturday 1st February 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Niseko Now report can be found here Lots of snow falling yesterday - as well as wind blowing - and this morning I have an additional 20cm of fresh to report from the Hirafu village area. At the time of writing, resorts aren't open as planned with strong winds especially over at Annupuri where upper area winds of up to 23m/s reported keeping all of the lifts there from operating. At Niseko Village just the bottom three lifts are moving. At Hirafu here the top Ace 3 and 4 lifts as well as the King 3 and 4 lifts are not moving due to strong winds, and the top two lifts at Hanazono are similarly affected. And here we were thinking we might catch a break with the wind this morning! If they can't get those opening up unfortunately it's inevitably going to create some congestion this morning. And there's lots of people around as well. The current snow is forecast to ease off during the day and leave us with just cloud. Should be cold overnight again but warm up tomorrow and we might see temperature rise to around 0 or possibly even slightly above. Hopefully there will be less wind. We should be getting back to the cold we expect though early in the week. --- OK as promised here's a quick look back at January and the numbers. And a good January it was of course. We logged (observed) 461cm of snowfall here at base in the month. The same observed number from the same spot in January last year (2013) was 443cm. Observed snowfall since the beginning of the season (2012-2013, last season): 979cm Observed snowfall since the beginning of the season (2013-2014, this season): 869cm Interesting. The main difference so far being more snowfall in December 2012 than December 2013. Both pretty amazing numbers, and of course we have over three months left of the season. Let's take a quick look at the JMA numbers recorded in Kutchan town... January 2013: 268cm January 2014: 317cm As always remember that the JMA numbers are from Kutchan town and our numbers are observed close to the base of Hirafu - so there's more falling on them there mountains. And also worth pointing out that this is not a science project, just presenting them to you because we find them to be interesting. JMA statistic for February last season (2013): 228cm SnowJapan Niseko Now statistic from February last season (2013): 406cm Long may the impressive snowfall numbers continue. (Oh yes... and light, dry and powdery please!) --- Niseko Avalanche Report Niseko base 6am: -7, 20cm new snow in last 12 hrs. Moiwa 800m: -12C, wind NW15m/s, poor visibility, blizzard conditions, highly unstable snowdrift and cornice development. Annupuri 1150m: -11C, wind W15-20m/s, major snowdrift development. Hirafu 1000m: -12C, 50cm snow drift growth. Annupuri peak 1308m: -16.4C, wind NW20.9m/s. Cape Benkei: NW16m/s, Cape Kamui: W12m/s, wave 2.7m, pressure 1017hPa. The cold air flow bringing us strong northwest wind (>15m/s) and snow continues both on the coast and mountains. From current observation and snowfall trends the avalanche risk in Niseko and surrounding mountains remains HIGH. The storm is expected to calm down this morning however open steep slopes and cornice slopes above 800m should be considered dangerous and avoided. Peak gates will be closed. Please respect and follow the patrols decisions. Do not duck ropes to enter Osawa, Kozen no sawa, Hanazono cornice area or Mizuno no sawa. Any avalanche will be large. The snow is good in the trees. Dont be overconfident or rely too much on your equipment. Beware falling into cracks, dont stop at the bottom or in gullies. --- Official snow depth numbers and lift news at time of writing: Grand Hirafu / Hanazono: Top - 400cm Base - 195cm Niseko Village: Top - 345cm Base - 230cm Annupuri: Top - 280cm Base - 210cm Niseko Now 2013-2014 season Data as of Saturday 1st February 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 879cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 61 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 40cm (14th January) November 2013 snowfall 123cm reported on 9 days December 2013 snowfall 275cm reported on 22 days January 2014 snowfall 461cm reported on 29 days February 2014 snowfall 20cm 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 Kutchan/Niseko. 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