Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 1cm Snowfall at base this season 123cm Posted on Wednesday 13th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. It's a stunner of a morning here in Yuzawa. Yesterday saw clouds moving in gradually after the fine start and even an attempt at snow falling. In keeping with the 'odd' theme to the season so far, on the news we saw that Tokyo got a bit of snowfall and there was also fairly heavy snow falling to the north of us in Niigata City. It's wasted up there, bring it down here... This morning the clouds are still feeling some kind of allergy to our valley - once again staying to the north of our region - and we have clear blue skies all around. Beautiful! The sun is out and it's just a beautiful morning - the kind we would really be loving if we had a few more metres of snow lying around! The really good thing this morning other than the views is that it is cold. It was cold last night and it is cold this morning. And there was actually a dusting of snow around places as well as a frost early so hopefully that might translate into some cm on upper areas. On checking it looks like Kagura are reporting just a dusting while Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 2-3cm. The varied forecasts all agree that we should get some fresh snow tomorrow, but disagree on when it might arrive - this afternoon? tonight? tomorrow? I'll give you the latest of course tomorrow morning. For now though it's a very fine morning to be out on the slopes. --- Resort official snow depths (Wednesday 13th 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 yet open. Generally steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 140cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 105cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 65cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 30cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Wednesday 13th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 123cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 13 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 31cm 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 3cm Snowfall at base this season 126cm Posted on Friday 15th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. A bit of snowfall to report this morning though it's just small numbers again, I'm afraid. This morning Kagura are reporting 0-2 cm of fresh snow and Maiko are reporting 5cm; and it looks like Naeba are reporting 3cm. I seem to have said this so many times this season but that is less snow than we were expecting again (the local Niigata local forecast told us to expect 10cm), with just 3cm on the ground this morning around town. Quite why those snow clouds are not coming that bit further south to our lovely little area is quite the puzzle. And I definitely know that I have reported this before only for us to be disappointed, but early next week is really - REALLY! - looking good for some decent snowfall. I'm not going to say anything else about that other than to just keep your eye on the forecast and let's see where it goes. Fingers crossed. For now though this morning resorts will have received a thin layer of snow on top of what they had with no major changes expected. Lots of cloud around this morning but it is quite bright and as we approach 8am there's a bit of blue sky to be seen to. It's thankfully keeping fairly cold without the proper warm-up thing that we had going on a while back. Weather for the weekend looks set to be... well, it's again really difficult to read and different forecasts tell different stories. Cloud and light snow maybe tomorrow morning, though quite a few days when we have had that forecast have ended up being clear and sunny, so who knows! --- A few people have asked why we keep on mentioning the amount of fresh snow at Kagura and Maiko Snow Resort in particular and not other resorts. A good question and there's a really simple answer - they are the ones that report such numbers. Most other resorts just stick to their 'snow depth' which often doesn't change and don't mention how much snow has fallen over the last 24 hours. Seems to me that the fresh snow number is the most important number there is. It's the number I want to know each morning and odd that many resorts don't mention it. You might think that it is just this season because there's not as much snowfall, but it's actually something that has always been the case. It's the fresh snow we want to know about every day, right? So that is why those resorts are mentioned. And they are actually pretty good ones to report location wise as Kagura is the highest resort in Yuzawa town and Maiko is nicely positioned right on the border of Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma (and physically very close to Iwappara). I can only report on the amount of snow that has fallen at base in town here. Unfortunately I am not able to up to the top of resorts each morning with a measuring stick! --- Resort official snow depths (Friday 15th 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 yet open. Generally steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 110cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 80-105cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 65cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 30cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Friday 15th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 126cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 14 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 34cm 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 3cm Snowfall at base this season 129cm Posted on Sunday 17th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. In my report yesterday I was saying how it felt like it might be one of those days when it clears up and turns into a fine day. Well, that wasn't what happened! It actually started snowing - and quite heavily for limited periods - and the snow clouds stayed over us for most of the day. It was great to see it really coming down at times, though it didn't really stay heavy for long. There were some decent conditions to be enjoyed as well. I spent a few fun hours up at the Kagura resort where there was obviously much less snow than usual for mid-January but some decent snow to be found. Resorts around the area this morning are not reporting any new cm of snow overnight but there was definitely some during the day and I measured 3cm of it here in town. So what about this heavy snowfall that we have been expecting early week? It's still looking good to be arriving. Just what kind of snowfall we get and how much... well let's just leave it to nature and see what happens. One thing the forecasts do agree on is that tomorrow will probably be quite mild and there's a good chance that we will get rained on here in town during the day before the 'main event' arrives. The 'main event' (snow) looks due around Tuesday/Wednesday. Here's hoping! --- Resort official snow depths (Sunday 17th 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 yet open. Generally some steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy (to varying degrees). Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 120cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 80cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 80-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 85cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 65cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 30cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Sunday 17th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 129cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 15 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 37cm 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 1cm Snowfall at base this season 130cm Posted on Monday 18th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Nature really isn't making these reports easy this season, that's for sure! Yesterday ended up looking quite moody really with thin almost hazy like clouds and the sun sort of visible behind them for lots of the day. Then there was even a few times when some very light snow was falling in places. Come late night and... it was raining down in town. Snow in Tokyo and rain in Yuzawa? That just isn't right! Anyway, come this morning and high up at Kagura they are reporting 10-15cm of new snowfall up there this morning and Maiko Snow Resort are reporting 5-15cm. So it looks like higher areas have had a fairly decent new layer of snow. Just earlier it was still raining/wet sleet/wet snow in town but things seem to be picking up and just as I started writing this it started to snow quite heavily. But hold on, as I am about to post the report it has stopped and it's more like sleet again. The reason I have waited until 10am today is so that I can bring you the latest forecast for Niigata prefecture that they issue (at 10am) telling us how much snow to expect. For Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma area they are saying just 2-3cm from now until 4pm today, so it doesn't look like they are expecting this snow to continue like it is just now. Hopefully they are wrong - they have been quite a lot this season so far! It is quite mild though this morning with a high of around 5C forecast for the middle of the day. Heavy and consistent snowfall is still expected to be on the way this week with Wednesday being the day that we should get the most. --- Strong winds are preventing the Kagura and Tashiro areas of the Kagura resort from opening this morning - it's just the Mitsumata area open for the moment, though they may open up part of Kagura if the conditions improve. Tashiro is closed for the day. It looks like it's windy up at GALA Yuzawa as well and while they are open they are operating lifts at a slower than usual speed this morning. --- Resort official snow depths (Monday 18th 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 yet open. Generally some steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy, to varying degrees. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 120cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 80cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 60cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 40cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Monday 18th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 130cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 16 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 38cm 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 4cm Snowfall at base this season 134cm Posted on Tuesday 19th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. I was totally not expecting this. Woke up this morning and looked out of the window to see.... clear blue skies. Yes, it is a stunning beautiful morning here in Yuzawa and to the north in Minamiuonuma. Once again, the clouds seem to be missing our valley and tracking to the north of us. Seemingly laughably as I look at the skies now, snow is still forecast for the whole day today here (!) with it getting really heavy overnight tonight and into tomorrow. Yesterday we actually did get snowfall for lots of the day and at times it was snowing quite heavily as well. There was about 4cm of fresh snow on the ground through the day and so I would expect there will have been a better layer the higher you go, though I do not have any numbers this morning from the resorts. With the snow from yesterday and the lovely early morning weather it should actually be a really good morning out on the slopes higher up. --- Resort official snow depths (Monday 18th 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 yet open. Generally some steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy, to varying degrees. Not updated today due to early report. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 120cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 80cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 60cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 40cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Tuesday 19th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 134cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 17 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 42cm 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 3cm Snowfall at base this season 137cm Posted on Wednesday 20th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Good morning from Yuzawa. Yesterday some of the forecasts insisted that it should be snowing all day in Yuzawa, but it was a really beautiful day with lots of blue sky. Some cloud here and there at times, especially later in the afternoon, but for a lot of the day it was blue skies and sunny. I was waiting until the 10am Niigata report again this morning just to see what they say and pass it on to you... Having said that, I'm not sure what it is worth at the moment as it seems to have been wrong - and sometimes totally off - for so many days this season so far. It seems that forecasting folk are having real problems forecasting correctly the weather in this particular region. Last night I was rather excited to see that they were telling us to expect 25-40cm of snow to fall in Yuzawa by 10am this morning. What we actually got was more a very disappointing 3-5cm. I see our guy in Naeba is reporting 8cm and the resort over there reporting 10cm, but other than that there are no official snowfall numbers to report this morning. Anyway as of 10am the same Niigata report tells us to expect 15-20cm in the Minamiuonuma and Yuzawa areas today from now until 4pm. It is actually snowing quite heavily just at the moment so let's see if we can get the cm this time. With some decent snowfall falling in other places on Honshu now, I think it's our turn to get some decent numbers! --- Strong winds is a feature of this morning and it looks like wind is affecting some lift operations around town... only the Mitsumata area of Kagura is open and it looks like the gondola and Okusoeji lifts at Maiko Snow Resort are also affected. There may be some other lifts affected depending on the wind. In other news it looks like the South Area of the GALA Yuzawa resort is now part open. --- Resort official snow depths (Wednesday 20th 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 yet open. Generally some steeper slopes that need more snow are still closed and some lower slopes are patchy, to varying degrees. Not updated today due to early report. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa Part of the South Area now open 140cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 100cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 80cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 90cm NASPA Ski Garden 70cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 40cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Wednesday 20th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 137cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 18 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 45cm 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 26cm Snowfall at base this season 163cm Posted on Thursday 21st January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Hello from Yuzawa and it is a much happier report this morning. I have just taken measurements in three places and the verdict is... 26cm of fresh snowfall. That's more like it! It's fantastic to a see a good new layer of snow on the ground, something that we usually take for granted here but are now perhaps leaning to appreciate all the more. So at last, a nice decent amount of snow overnight after another day of snow falling yesterday without it making much of an impact in terms of cm. It must have been snowing pretty good overnight. This morning here's what 'the resorts that report' are saying: Kagura: 30-40cm of fresh snowfall Naeba: 20-30cm of fresh snowfall Maiko Snow Resort: 25cm of fresh snowfall I would imagine most of the resorts around the valley will have all got at least 20cm of fresh on their slopes. (Quite how Kagura get 40cm and not adjust their official snow depth is one of the mysteries that definitely needs solving!) All areas appear to be open this morning with no wind issues. It is still snowing this morning as well with snow forecast for the day and tomorrow too... and over the weekend as well. We have heard that before of course this season and been disappointed but perhaps this time it might be a different story. Look towards Sunday in particular for heavy snowfall. Could this be the turning point of the season for us here in this region? --- Resort official snow depths (Thursday 21st 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 yet open. This new snowfall will certainly have helped but we could do with more to help with base numbers. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa Part of the South Area now open 130cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 100cm Iwappara 60cm Joetsu Kokusai 110cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 120cm (upper) 50cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 90cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 85cm Yuzawa Kogen 100cm Yuzawa Nakazato 70cm Yuzawa Park 70cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Thursday 21st January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 163cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 19 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 71cm 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 8cm Snowfall at base this season 171cm Posted on Friday 22nd January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Good morning from Yuzawa where has been more snow since the last report... 8cm outside my place here in town. Snow was falling on and off for most of the day yesterday and overnight and I suppose because of that we were hoping for more cm than what we got, but it's all good. The snow of the last few days has certainly been appreciated by the resorts - and of course people visiting them - and happily there is more on the way soon. Light to moderate snow expected through the day today with maybe a break in snowfall during the day tomorrow, to be followed by heavy snow which is forecast for Saturday night and through Sunday (some forecasts seem to say that will happen on a slightly later schedule than that). Maiko Snow Resort are this morning reporting 10cm of fresh snow on their slopes, as are Kagura. So I would expect about that around the resorts this morning. With snow still falling now, visibility is limited outside and on the slopes but the fresh snow to play in will probably make up for that. Take care where you're going. --- Resort official snow depths (Friday 22nd January 2016) and any specific news: All resorts in the area are now generally open for the season though please note that courses are not yet open. The fresh snowfall of the last few days has been a big help, though we could do with more to give us decent base numbers. Some numbers have not been updated today at the time of writing the report. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 150cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 100cm Iwappara 100cm Joetsu Kokusai 110cm Kagura 110cm (Mitsumata) 140cm (Tashiro) 170cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 125cm (upper) 55cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 90cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 85cm Yuzawa Kogen 100cm Yuzawa Nakazato 75cm Yuzawa Park 70cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Friday 22nd January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 171cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 20 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 79cm 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 11cm Snowfall at base this season 182cm Posted on Saturday 23rd January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. A good morning to you from Yuzawa where it was snowing for large parts of yesterday and there has been 4cm or so more overnight as well. Since my morning report yesterday I have measured an additional 11cm down here in town and I can see that early this morning Kagura are reporting 15-20cm of fresh and Maiko report 10cm so that will probably give you an idea of where we are this morning. Around 10cm of snow around town and up to 20cm in higher areas. It is snowing lightly at the moment but fairly bright. The forecast tells us that the snow should ease off this morning and leave us with a cloudy day. I wouldn't be surprised if it cleared up further and ended up seeing some sunshine (but that is just a total guess). We should be back to being snowed on tomorrow with heavy snowfall due tomorrow (Sunday) night into Monday and possibly windy/stormy conditions. With the snowfall over the last run of days things almost feel something more like 'normal' now, I am happy to report (even though the level of snow piled up around town is clearly still less than usual of course). I was even out shovelling snow from around my house last night - something I'm usually not particularly happy to be doing but I enjoyed it last night. Conditions on the slopes have been very much improved, including lower areas which have also been snowed on, and I expect to find some very nice conditions out there this morning. Further heavy snow tomorrow will be most welcome! The local forecast disagrees but the 6-day forecast below shows some sun Tuesday-Thursday. If that happens after snow tomorrow and Monday, I would expect those days to be close on perfect to hit the slopes. Have a good weekend wherever you may be. --- Resort official snow depths (Saturday 23rd January 2016) and any specific news: All resorts in the area are now open - and they are now 'mostly' open with just a few steeper courses still unavailable. Importantly, lower slopes have also enjoyed a decent refresh of snow over the last few days. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 150cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 100cm Joetsu Kokusai 110cm Kagura 110cm (Mitsumata) 140cm (Tashiro) 170cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 100-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 130cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 100cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 95cm Yuzawa Kogen 100cm Yuzawa Nakazato 75cm Yuzawa Park 80cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Saturday 23rd January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 182cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 21 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 90cm 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 3cm Snowfall at base this season 185cm Posted on Sunday 24th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Yesterday was an interesting one. The snowfall eased off and the clouds were stubborn for most of the morning but around lunchtime we did get some blue skies and sunshine over Yuzawa with cloud moving back over later in the afternoon. And quite a clear evening with a beautiful moon. This morning I got up around 7:30am and looked out of the window hoping to see heavy snow falling only to see.... calm and quite clear skies. Not again, was my first thought. But soon after light snow started falling and now (9:15am) it is snowing heavily. It looks and feels like it is set in as well. Proper snow this time, it's really coming down. Brilliant! I'm logging 3cm so far since the snow started. Kagura reported 1-2cm overnight and Maiko reported 0cm, but that was before this morning snow started and it if does continue like this today we should be on for some decent numbers by tomorrow. Exciting. Forecasts do say it should be snow all today and most of tomorrow as well. They disagree somewhat on what will happen Tuesday but it could definitely be one of those clear sky days after a storm and the perfect time to be here. We'll see. For now we want as much snow as possible out of this storm. I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow morning. --- Resort official snow depths (Sunday 24th January 2016) and any specific news: All resorts in the area are now open - and they are now 'mostly' open with just a few steeper courses still unavailable. Importantly, lower slopes have also enjoyed a decent refresh of snow over the last few days. But we still need more! Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 150cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 100cm Joetsu Kokusai 110cm Kagura 110cm (Mitsumata) 140cm (Tashiro) 170cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 100-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 130cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 100cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 95cm Yuzawa Kogen 100cm Yuzawa Nakazato 75cm Yuzawa Park 80cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Sunday 24th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 185cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 22 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 93cm reported on 15 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 24cm Snowfall at base this season 209cm Posted on Monday 25th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Yesterday saw what was surely the most full-on winter conditions we have had this season so far. Heavy snow was falling for lots of the day and some blustery winds as well especially in the afternoon. I cleared a good 15cm off my measuring area yesterday evening and overnight there has been more snow with another 9cm added (somewhat less than we were actually expecting overnight), so I make that 24cm since my report yesterday morning. Interestingly Kagura are reporting 10cm and Maiko report 5-15cm. With those numbers I can only think they are leaving out what fell yesterday as there has certainly been more than that since yesterday afternoon! When I say 'lots of the day' above, there was this one curious period late morning when the clouds cleared up quite a lot - we even had blue skies - and we thought that might be the end of the snow for the day... but happily it started up again quite quickly and got heavy. It has been snowing this morning and still is, though just as I write this report things it is lighter and it's actually quite bright. Perhaps it will be similar to yesterday and the heavy snow will be back quickly - it is on the forecast for the day. It's fantastic to see some decent amounts of snow fall of course and fingers crossed we will get more today. The chances of a clear and sunny day tomorrow are high - being here tomorrow should be excellent timing. Temperatures do look like they are going to creep up somewhat higher later in the week and there's chance of some rain as well which doesn't sound very good. Hopefully we'll avoid that. For now though, fresh snow to play in and some fine to excellent conditions to be found. --- Checking around resorts early on it seems that Tashiro area of Kagura will be closed due to wind up there. Kagura via Mitsumata will be open at the beginning of the day up to Kagura Number 1 pair lift. --- Resort official snow depths (Monday 25th January 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: All resorts in the area are now open - and they are now 'mostly' open with just a few steeper courses still unavailable. All slopes have enjoyed a decent refresh of snow over the last few days. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 150cm The South Area is now part open and downhill Falcon course is also open Ishiuchi Maruyama 120cm Iwappara 100cm Joetsu Kokusai 110cm Kagura 110cm (Mitsumata) 140cm (Tashiro) 170cm (Kagura) Tashiro is closed today Kagura open via Mitsumata to the Number 1 pair lift Kandatsu Kogen 100-110cm Maiko Snow Resort 130cm (upper) 60cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 100cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 95cm Yuzawa Kogen 110cm Yuzawa Nakazato 85cm Yuzawa Park 80cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Monday 25th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 209cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 23 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 117cm reported on 16 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 14cm Snowfall at base this season 223cm Posted on Tuesday 26th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. We enjoyed more snowfall through most of the day yesterday (and yes, we did get a few short periods where it backed off like the day before) and it was snowing pretty good for most of the day. Since my report yesterday morning there has been another 14cm of snowfall down here by my base. Interestingly, once again resorts are if anything under-reporting with just 5cm from both Kagura and Maiko this morning. You'd think they'd want to shout out about the better actual numbers - of course, we don't want anyone to be 'lying' about conditions, that's not cool... So this morning, just like the forecast told us to expect, we have beautiful almost clear blue skies from early on. There's just a bit of cloud about, and quite a bit to the north of Minamiuonuma still but it looks like it is going to be a really great morning to be strapped to the skis or board. We're good for time being, but there's not much snow lined up on the 6-day forecast currently with the best chance of the next (decent) snow being around Saturday. Before then, we can probably expect some sun and temperatures warming up a bit. Look out for a chance of rain sometime around Thursday and Friday at town level. Let's hope we can avoid that. By Saturday with that expected snow it should be getting colder once again. I haven't been out myself the last few days but heard from friends about some great conditions at Kagura, GALA and Kandatsu the last few days which is good to hear. I'll be checking myself today. --- Resort official snow depths (Tuesday 26th January 2016) and any specific news at time of writing: All resorts in the area are either mostly or fully open. All slopes have enjoyed a decent refresh of snow over the last week. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 170cm The South Area is now part open and downhill Falcon course is also open Ishiuchi Maruyama 140cm Iwappara 115cm Joetsu Kokusai 120cm Kagura 130cm (Mitsumata) 160cm (Tashiro) 190cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 100-140cm Maiko Snow Resort 160cm (upper) 90cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 100cm Naeba 100cm NASPA Ski Garden 105cm Yuzawa Kogen 110cm Yuzawa Nakazato 85cm Yuzawa Park 95cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Tuesday 26th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 223cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 24 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 131cm reported on 17 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