Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 25cm Snowfall at base this season 120cm Posted on Monday 8th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. After that continued snow for most of the day yesterday, this morning it's an absolute beauty. Clear blue skies all round and the sun is out as of 8am. Everywhere looks stunning. It almost felt like it would never stop snowing yesterday. It really did come down with well over 1m observed. Easily 20cm or more since my last report yesterday morning I would say. Whatever the 'exact number', if such a thing exists with things like this, it doesn't really matter... a lot. By the time it got dark, skies were generally clear and it was actually a fine but cold and icy evening. So with the clear skies this morning there is no new snow to report overnight. The number I add to the report this morning is what fell during the day yesterday. A few lifts not moving today that were yesterday aside, it looks like the same Kagura parts of Kagura are open today. They have a map saying that this is what will be open from today until Friday. Presumably that is in the absence of any further heavy snow. Joetsu Kokusai and Iwappara, while covered in a nice layer of snow, seem to have made the decision to wait for more to open up. Still they will certainly be happy with how things are looking this morning rather than waiting around with no snow like we sometimes are at this time of the year. It will be interesting how this week goes. Traditionally, the first snowfall in town melts away before the real snow for the season comes. But with so much falling this time, I find it hard to think that it will all go from town. But you never know I suppose. There isn't much snow forecast for the week until late Friday into Saturday actually, even a bit of rain here and there in the meantime as it won't be quite as cold. A high of 5 degrees forecast for today but after today it doesn't look like it should warm up too much, so fingers crossed it will keep on the colder side. --- Mitsumata: -Main Course -Giant Course -Technical Course -Gondola Course -Family Course -Gondola Line Lifts operating: Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad, Mitsumata Number 3 Romance lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day) Tashiro: Tashiro Number 1 Course Rakuraku Course Tashiro Ladies Course (* but men allowed) Shirakaba Course Number 1 Quad connecting course Skyline Course Tashiro Aries Course Lifts operating: Tashiro Ropeway, Tashiro Number 1 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 2 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 1 high speed Kagura isn't connected up with Tashiro yet, but fairly big chunks of either side are now open. --- No detailed news yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai (who yesterday were saying that they will be considering opening from Wednesday this coming week, but with the snow we have now...) --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): As soon as possible (not confirmed at time of writing): Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Monday 8th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 120cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 120cm 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

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 0cm Snowfall at base this season 120cm Posted on Tuesday 9th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. No new snow to report this morning. Yesterday the sun stayed out for pretty much all day, some clouds gathering as the day progressed. But generally a really lovely day, and though it did warm up slightly and there was the sound of dripping melting snow, it didn't get too warm. This morning it wasn't snowing but just now I have just speaking with my colleague in Minamiuonuma where it has just started snowing in the last 10 minutes. Looks like it's coming south and the bit of sunshine that we have had this morning will be replaced by snow soon. Bit wetter compared to the mid-season snow we got over the weekend. Will be interesting to see how much we get on the ground today, not a huge amount expected. It has been on the news to look for heavy snow at the weekend again though, starting around Friday. --- Mitsumata: -Main Course -Giant Course -Technical Course -Gondola Course -Family Course -Taikai -Gondola Line Lifts operating: Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad, Mitsumata Number 3 Romance lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 Quad (every day) Tashiro: Tashiro Number 1 Course Rakuraku Course Tashiro Ladies Course Number 1 Quad connecting course Skyline Course Tashiro Aries Course Lifts operating: Tashiro Ropeway, Tashiro Number 1 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 2 Romance lift, Tashiro Number 1 high speed Kagura isn't connected up with Tashiro yet, but fairly big chunks of either side are now open. --- No detailed news yet from Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai. They'll be opening as soon as they can. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): As soon as possible: Iwappara Joetsu Kokusai Saturday 13th December: Maiko Snow Resort Naeba Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 9th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 120cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 3 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 120cm 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

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 15cm Snowfall at base this season 135cm Posted on Saturday 13th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. There's 15cm of snow on the top of my car this morning. Not as much as I was hoping for really. Not snowing at the moment. And a bit shocked to see a bit of blue sky over parts of Yuzawa as well at the moment. A quick look at the webcams shows the sun shining down on the main run at Kagura (who are also reporting 10cm of fresh snow this morning). Hmmm, wasn't expecting (or hoping for) that. The forecast still has us down for snow and heavy snow tonight and into tomorrow, so I'm hoping that this surprise clear will be shortlived. Yesterday it was snowing on and off during the day - sleet at times in places - but rather not that kind that had snow piling up on the ground. Bit wet. Iwappara and Joetsu Kokusai both opened part of their resorts as detailed yesterday. Today Naeba and Maiko Snow Resort open for the first time this season as well. Naeba has a fairly large area open, including the Daishamen course and downhill from the Number 2 Gondola along with part of the lower slopes of the resort. They are reporting 2-5cm of snow since last night and the sun is shining over there for the moment. Lots of 'events' going on over there and no doubt the TV cameras will be there as well.... they seem to be every single season. Naeba is still a big name. Maiko Snow Resort has the top Okusoeji area open, accessed via the Gondola. I was over there yesterday evening and it was interesting seeing a ski resort get ready for opening. I get the feeling they might have been there late last night (all night?) getting everything ready. We'd really like lots of snow rather than clear weather for the moment. Hopefully those snow clouds will arrive in force a bit later on today. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) Iwappara (part open) Joetsu Kokusai (part open) Naeba (part open) Maiko Snow Resort (part open) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 13th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 135cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 4 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 135cm reported on 4 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 60cm Snowfall at base this season 195cm Posted on Sunday 14th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Yesterday started off really disappointing, the sun even came out for a few moments time to time and some clear conditions. It was frustrating seeing the heavy snow in Niigata City reported on the TV news... it's wasted up there! But anyway, snow clouds came down to this region later in the day and... This morning is very different. Tons of snow on the ground, easily more than 50cm on the top of my car - and Kagura is reporting 50-80cm of fresh snow (though the snow depth remains at 150cm!) Naeba are reporting 40-6cm of fresh and that their patrol are out this morning checking things and there's a chance of more opening up today, depending on safety etc. I can't find any news on other courses/lifts opening up at the resorts that are now open but of course would expect that to happen soon if not today. Then again, it's blowing a snow storm out there at the moment - not sure many people will be wanting to be out just at the moment. Once it has eased off a bit though things will be very good indeed I should imagine. Though looking at the forecast, while snow might ease off later today or into tomorrow, we're going to get a quick second wave move in late Tuesday into Wednesday. So no complaints this morning. (Perhaps other than from people who have to have to go outside and shift it!) Loads of snow and we're now back and beyond what we had last weekend. There's no doubt now that this snow will be sticking around, especially with the snow lined up in the coming week as well. In fact, it will surely be a really great start to the season for all of the resorts around Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma which is a great thing to be able to report. I'm going to spend the day first off moving snow and then watching it from inside and looking forward to being able to enjoy it. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura (Mitsumata) Kagura (Tashiro) Iwappara (part open) Joetsu Kokusai (part open) Naeba (part open) Maiko Snow Resort (part open) --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 14th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 195cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 5 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 80cm (7th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 195cm 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 100cm Snowfall at base this season 295cm Posted on Monday 15th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. It hasn't stopped snowing since yesterday. It's relentless! It's one of those times when numbers are difficult to be accurate with and in a way kind of meaningless. I think yesterday morning in my report I actually under-reported - there was more like 70cm on the ground once I got a measure on it. Then mid-day I moved another fresh 30cm from the same place. Then in the evening I moved another 40cm. And this morning, there was another 30-40cm. That's all fresh snowfall. So adding all of that up, it comes to 170-180cm! And a full 1m since yesterday. There's a piece of unused level land next to where I am here and the snow on that land is now getting on for 2m. I was just looking back at reports from previous seasons (you can do that too using the links at the bottom of this page) - in recent years we have never had so much snow at this early stage in the season. I think what has surprised so many locals here is how we have only really had 2 snow 'events' down to town level - basically last weekend and the weekend that has just finished - yet here we are with nearly 2m of snow piled up on the ground around town. All a bit overwhelming really, though of course exciting at the same time. As you might expect, it has been causing transportation issues as everyone tries to cope with it all. The Joetsu Shinkansen was actually stopped for a while yesterday as there was a power cut, though I'm not sure if that was related to the weather conditions somehow or not. OK so let's get onto resort stuff. This morning Iwappara are suddenly up to a snow depth of 170cm. (Compare with Christmas Day last year when that number was at 105cm). They don't seem to be opening any more lifts though with the two lifts that have been open so far remaining open. Kagura are reporting 40-50cm of new snow overnight, but there's the snow that fell during the day as well which is surely not included in that. Maiko Snow Resort now have a snow depth of 190cm and new snowfall of 60cm. It doesn't look like there's much more open in terms of lifts and course though just yet. I imagine there's a lot of snow management to deal with at the moment, but lack of snow is not going to be an issue this December. The snowfall may ease off a bit later today and tomorrow and warm up a little, but that next storm is still scheduled to be with us around Wednesday bringing with it lots more snow. Oh yes one thing I haven't mentioned, the snow has been fabulously light. Once the storm passes and people can catch their breath, conditions should be amazing. If you do get out there, take real care with all this fresh deep snow. Visibility is limited as well. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba (part open) Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 170cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Monday 15th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 295cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 6 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 295cm 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 10cm Snowfall at base this season 305cm Posted on Tuesday 16th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. The snowfall continued yesterday through into the afternoon though it wasn't as determined as it was on Sunday, and by evening the skies were much clearer and people could catch a breath! A quick ride round the area yesterday and things were looking suitably mid-winter. People on the roofs of buildings that look like they are about to get squashed shovelling snow onto the road, snow 'walls' at the side of roads which are 2m high in places. It sure didn't feel like middle of December. Having driven through Uonuma and Minamiuonuma as well as Yuzawa, I would probably say that there's more snow to the north in the Uonuma/Minamiuonuma areas. But lots everywhere and when there's so much it doesn't really matter. Anyway, this morning it's a cloudy somewhat overcast feel, grey skies all round. No new snow overnight (so what I log today is from the daytime yesterday). Temperatures to rise to around 3 degrees today, with quite strong winds and rain likely later on. We are still on for the stormy conditions tomorrow and maybe into Thursday when we expect more potentially heavy snowfall and strong winds. It might not be nice out there for a while. Resorts that are open seem to be open on the same scale again today, so I'm guessing this is what we have until the weekend. Once the weekend arrives I would think they'll open up fully and the resorts that plan to open from Saturday should also get off to a great start. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 160cm Maiko Snow Resort: 170cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 16th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 305cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 7 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 305cm 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 20cm Snowfall at base this season 325cm Posted on Wednesday 17th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. We did end up with rain yesterday from the afternoon and continuing into the evening. I'm guessing (and this is a guess, sorry) that it would have been snow higher up. Rain down in town. It wasn't as cold as it had been but still didn't rise above 3 degrees. The news last night was full of this "once every however many years" winter storm will be over Japan today and tomorrow - with Hokkaido getting special mention for extra strong typhoon like winds - and while this morning has started snowy and windy, it's not crazily so. A look at the weather charts shows more snow falling to the north of us here, perhaps around Koide and Horinouchi, with slightly less here in the Yuzawa region... but that's just for the moment. The forecast is for heavy snow and strong winds for all of today and tomorrow. 25-30cm of snow on the top of my car parked in Ishiuchi overnight and it's definitely rather windy, but from what I can tell the ski resorts that are open should be open as normal this morning. Kagura reports 20cm of snowfall and... well, that's actually it for reported numbers. I do wish they'd all tell us every day! --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - pretty much fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 150cm Maiko Snow Resort: 170cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 17th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 325cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 8 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 325cm reported on 8 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 85cm Snowfall at base this season 410cm Posted on Thursday 18th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. This storm that is over Japan at the moment is still at the top of the national news. Last night they were warning that parts of Niigata were up for 120cm of more snowfall before Thursday evening. I think a lot of people went to sleep worried about what might await them but for this region anyway there wasn't quite as much expected overnight. Let's rewind back to yesterday. It was pretty wild. After the snow I reported yesterday morning, in the early afternoon I took a fresh 40cm off the top of my car. Then 20cm more in the evening. And there's another 15cm on there this morning. So that's 85cm since my last report. I might even be under-reporting there. It was moderately windy at times yesterday, sometimes strong. So it's another of those days when there's just a ridiculous amount of snow around. It's hard to believe that we are still only on 18th December and only really had 3 lots of snow. Quite a few ski resorts around Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma plan on being open from tomorrow and then more again on Saturday (details below). They won't have lack of snow problems to deal with, that's for sure. If anything, the problem might be digging out the ski lifts! A good problem to have though as sometimes around this time of the year and even beyond Christmas there's a worry about snow. Not this year! Kagura reports 80cm of fresh snowfall and the official snow depth goes up from 200cm to.... er, 200cm. (How does that work then?! I know the amount that falls doesn't always translate into the same amount added due to compacting and all that, but still...!) Strong winds up there is affecting Kagura with only the Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 Quad and Mitsumata Number 2 Romance pair lifts operating. So no main Kagura area and no Tashiro today. Naeba report 35-50cm and they are too limited to lower areas due to wind. Here in town it's not actually snowing at the moment, and even looks like it might clear up with visibility getting better - can see the mountains - but the snow is due through the day and I imagine this is just a temporary break, it'll probably be snowing again just after I post this. The forecast for the day is more heavy snow and moderate to strong winds, with the snowfall easing off overnight by early tomorrow morning. Some forecasts are saying we might get to see clearer skies and the sun shining down tomorrow. Would be nice. As locals deal with all of this snow - 'enough is enough' seems to be the local consensus for now - this weekend should be great. With much more suddenly opening up in some respects it feels like this coming weekend is the first main weekend of the season proper after a kind of 'pre-season' Hope you can get here to enjoy it. Snow should be superb. --- Resorts currently open: Kagura - limited to just Mitsumata today due to wind Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating --- Official snow depths: Kagura: 200cm Naeba: 100cm Iwappara: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Friday 19th December: Ishiuchi Maruyama Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Thursday 18th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 410cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 9 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 410cm 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 50cm Snowfall at base this season 460cm Posted on Friday 19th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Hello from Yuzawa and for once it's not snowing. Locals breath a sigh of relief as they continue to dig themselves out of their houses and find their cars under all of the snow. I didn't move the snow from my car yesterday and I think I can just about make it out under a huge blob of marshmallow outside my house. Yesterday while it snowed for most of the day once again it wasn't quite as full on as it was the previous day. Still, another 40-50cm or so I would say. Kagura report 80cm since yesterday. For the moment it is mostly cloudy and overcast over the town area but quite bright. I can see that down in the Naeba area there's some blue sky and the sun seems to be shining down on the lower slopes of the resort. And there's just now some blue sky visible from here in town as well. Perhaps it will clear up today here too? More resorts opening for the first time this morning. Or should I say 'pre-open' with some, which kind of seems to mean 'open a bit'. Or maybe even 'part open'. Sounds like an event though! Though I do see that at Kandatsu Kogen this morning... it's free! Yes, a full day of free skiing on offer over there which can't be bad. It's good to see Kandatsu Kogen back after a year with the lifts taking a rest. I think it was a bit of a shock for Kandatsu not to be open. But anyway, back to normal now. And more resorts opening tomorrow as well as can be seen in the list below. In fact, come tomorrow there'll only be a few places left to get open for the season (one of those being the famous Mt Granview). Just looking round for information and as expected from tomorrow more lifts and courses will be open. Maiko Snow Resort, for example, will have all of the top Okusoeji area open and also the Nagamine area with part of the Maiko area... basically most of the resort. I can't see much reason why resorts that are open at at least close to fully open from tomorrow and it would surprise me if places continued to hold back. There's enough snow! Tomorrow it will warm up slightly - highs as high as 8 degrees in town? Rain in the evening? Nooooo! If we get that rain lets hope it quickly turns into snow - which is what is forecast to happen. Wouldn't want to spoil all of this lovely fluffy light snow that we have. --- Resorts currently open: * Apologies - at the time of writing this report it is proving difficult to confirm full details for the resorts that are opening for the first time this morning Kagura - fully open Naeba - part open Iwappara - part open, 2 central area lifts operating Joetsu Kokusai - part open, 5 lifts operating Maiko Snow Resort - part open, top Okusoeji area, Gondola and 2 Okusoeji lifts operating Ishiuchi Maruyama - lots open Muikamachi Ski Resort Yuzawa Nakazato Yuzawa Kogen Yuzawa Park --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: N/A Ishiuchi Maruyama: 250cm Iwappara: 205cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 140cm NASPA Ski Garden: 190cm (opens tomorrow) Yuzawa Kogen: N/A Yuzawa Nakazato: N/A --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): Saturday 20th December: Chateau Shiozawa GALA Yuzawa Ipponsugi Kandatsu Kogen Ludens Yuzawa Nakazato Snow Wood Muimamachi Hakkaisan NASPA Ski Garden Yuzawa Kogen (Nunoba area) Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Friday 19th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 460cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 460cm 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 0cm Snowfall at base this season 460cm Posted on Saturday 20th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Yesterday the clouds gradually broke up leaving us early afternoon with lots of blue sky above Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma. It turned into a beautiful afternoon with just a bit of cloud hanging on. Snow was great too - one of the things about this early snowfall was not just how much there was, but the quality... was like mid-season really nice condition. It didn't warm up too much during the day yesterday, but it's a milder start this morning and cloudy - or is that overcast? Just generally grey skies basically. As of 9am it's around 3 degrees here in town and it might rise to as high as around 8 degrees later on in the day. Bit too warm that, and while it will get colder later on there's a good chance it will rain. It should be snowing overnight though with tomorrow set to be colder. Fingers crossed for it to get colder quicker than the forecast suggests and we avoid that rain stuff. --- Today sees another bunch of resorts open for the first time including GALA Yuzawa and NASPA Ski Garden and most places are either fully or close to be being fully open. It's great that we are in that position so early in the season and not worrying about the amount of snow. Noticably more people around this morning as well, it's probably what you might call the first big weekend of the season and I reckon lots of people will be enjoying their first slides of the season today. As most ski resorts in Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma are now at least part open, I'll just make a note below of which are still waiting to start their season. Just Itsukamachi, Hakkaisanroku, Ishiuchi Hanaoka and Mt Granview left now. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 270cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 230cm Iwappara: 175cm Joetsu Kokusai: 180cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 200cm Maiko Snow Resort: 200cm Naeba: 140cm NASPA Ski Garden: 195cm Yuzawa Kogen: 190cm Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Tuesday 23rd December: Itsukamachi Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 20th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 460cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 460cm 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 20cm Snowfall at base this season 480cm Posted on Tuesday 23rd December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Snowfall remained half-hearted for much of the morning at least and into the afternoon, though around 2pm it started snowing more heavily... didn't amount to that much snow on the ground though. So it was surprising to see on the news how much snow had been falling elsewhere in Niigata to the north of us here - the clouds had kind of missed us out of the main event. My friend over in Tokamachi said he had to move over 40cm off his car yesterday evening, that had fallen during the day. So the forecast was for 50cm and over in the mountains of the region for overnight, so we were looking forward to that. Didn't quite turn out like that though. There's 15cm of snow on the top of my car this morning; I'd guess that resorts around town saw about 20cm upwards. Kagura are reporting 30-40cm; Naeba reporting 20-40cm. Nice to get the layer of fresh, but let's have more today ok?! Today is a national holiday in Japan - Emperor's Birthday - so I would expect places to at least be busier than a normal Tuesday. The weekend didn't see too many crowds so just how many people will turn out for today, I don't know. Christmas isn't a holiday here in Japan and while people might eat a cake and friend chicken on Christmas Eve (as is the 'tradition' here), for most it's just another day. Indeed you'll probably see Christmas trees taken down late on the 24th, to be replaced with New Year gear. Oh yes and lots of ski hills will get visited by Santa. Busy guy. The forecast for today remains snow and it is snowing now, so hopefully we can get some more fresh snow on the runs. Tomorrow looks set to be milder with some forecasts telling us that we might have clearer sunny skies (others just cloudy). Itsukamachi resort in Minamiuonuma opens from today. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Tuesday 23rd December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 480cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 11 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 480cm 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 2cm Snowfall at base this season 482cm Posted on Wednesday 24th December 2014 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Mostly cloudy over the region, some quite dark clouds there early on as well. Yesterday it was snowing on and off for most of the day and into the evening, though the kind of snow that didn't end up with much in terms of new cm on the ground. There were a few times when blue skies appeared as well, only to be fairly quickly covered again by the clouds. Fairly hard packed snow conditions on lower slopes yesterday afternoon and a bit icy - it felt pretty cold out there - so while there's still a large amount of snow delivered to the area. Perhaps Santa could help rather than skiing around! And perhaps he will. While today is expected to be quite mild and temperatures rising to maybe around 6 degrees early afternoon, it should be getting cold by evening and hopefully snow falling by the end of the day (though some local forecasts give us the chance of rain before snow). After that, snow for all of tomorrow, so bring it on Mr Christmas. I'm posting the report too early this morning to catch the official snow depth number updates and so most of those are as they were yesterday. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 230cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 200cm Iwappara: 165cm Joetsu Kokusai: 160cm Kagura: 230cm Kandatsu Kogen: 190cm Maiko Snow Resort: 190cm Naeba: 150cm NASPA Ski Garden: 160cm Yuzawa Kogen: 200cm (Kogen) 150cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 130cm --- Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date): All resorts not noted here are now at least part open. Thursday 25th December: Hakkaisanroku Saturday 27th December: Ishiuchi Hanaoka Late December Mt Granview Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 24th December 2014 Total snowfall at base so far 482cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 482cm 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