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

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 5cm Snowfall at base this season 116cm Posted on Saturday 9th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. There is more fresh snow to report this morning though it was actually raining as the day ended yesterday - it was one of those 'not again!' kind of feelings... But happily it turned into snow overnight and there's about 4-6cm of fresh on the ground around town areas early on. Regarding resorts that report fresh snowfall in a morning - Kagura are reporting 15-20cm of fresh snowfall, Naeba reporting 10cm (our reporter recording 7cm at base), and Maiko Snow Resort just to the north of Yuzawa town area reporting 5-15cm. It all helps and I see that Maiko are now mostly open with the snow of the last few days. Expect other resorts to be 'as open as possible' given their conditions and this fresh snow will certainly have helped. The snowfall still somehow feels 'weak' though, especially compared to what we are used to in this region. Perhaps we might get some of that Yuzawa-like kind of snowfall later tomorrow and through Monday into Tuesday. By that I mean blizzard like conditions and the snow quickly piling up. The forecast is still looking good for snow over that period. For today though expect the snow to ease off and leave us with just cloudy skies and maybe even clearing skies. It should keep quite cold though which is good, currently at 9am it is +1C. Some forecasts tell us to expect some clearer skies at the start of the day tomorrow with others saying snow clouds, though they all agree that it should be snowing later on in the day. Today is the start of the long 'Coming of Age Day' weekend in Japan with Monday being a national holiday, so popular places especially should be very busy this weekend. Here's to more snowfall over the coming days. --- Resort official snow depths (Saturday 9th 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. The snow over the last few days has helped and we hope for more over the next few days. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 120cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 70cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 100cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 30cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 70cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 65cm Yuzawa Kogen 80cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 45cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Saturday 9th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 116cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 10 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 24cm 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 5cm Snowfall at base this season 121cm Posted on Monday 11th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. Resorts are this morning reporting up to 10-15cm of fresh snowfall, with 4cm on the ground here. Yesterday was another fine day, with clouds staying just to the north of our region for most of the day until the evening... when it started raining. It was cold though and it turned into snow overnight so let's quickly move on. (I've had enough of the r word!) It is snowing very lightly as I write the report and the local forecast is for the snow to stop sometime this morning leaving us with cloudy conditions for the rest of the day. Unfortunately there seems to be less snow now on the weekly forecast than there was just yesterday. Not sure what is going on there but if it's right it'll just be a continuation of what we have been having so far (but hopefully less of the rain). Snow is there on the forecast, just generally light rather than the Yuzawa-like heavy snow that I have been mentioning we are used to. But, forecasts can change quickly so let's not put too much in it for now. Generally there will be better and fresher snow conditions higher up. Today is a national holiday in Japan and so the last day of the long weekend. It will be less busy than yesterday and Saturday though with people starting to return home. We'll be back to a normal weekday today. --- Resort official snow depths (Monday 11th 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. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 110cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 70cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 35cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Monday 11th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 121cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 11 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 29cm 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 1cm Snowfall at base this season 122cm Posted on Tuesday 12th January 2016 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here. It was snowing for a good part of the day yesterday, though it was mostly that kind of lazily falling light snow that doesn't really build up. Still resorts are reporting this morning up to 5cm of fresh snow since yesterday and the snowfall was welcome. Just 1cm down here in town. The snowfall eventually eased off in the evening. Cloud has been forecast for the first part of today and there is cloud around but quite a bit of blue sky as well along with the sun breaking through the clouds in places. Very scenic. We are expecting snow clouds to be back over the region later on this afternoon. It has been keeping colder too the last few and that looks set to continue. In fact, there seems to be a feeling that more winter-like weather should be with us from now and the chance of snow most days. Still, some forecasts do not have a huge amount of snowfall lined up for the coming 5-6 days. It's honestly a bit of a confused picture really - certainly not clear cut what we can expect. We have just got to enjoy what we got! Which isn't deep but generally resorts are doing a good job at keeping things going well. The webcams and images this morning show some very inviting groomed runs on offer. (See the photos from Maiko this morning on the PC version of this report). It's back to a normal weekday from today after that long weekend so resorts should be relatively quiet now. A fine time to be out on the slopes especially when there's fresh snow out there. --- Resort official snow depths (Tuesday 12th 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. Resorts in Yuzawa: GALA Yuzawa 110cm Ishiuchi Maruyama 80cm Iwappara 40cm Joetsu Kokusai 70cm Kagura 90cm (Mitsumata) 120cm (Tashiro) 150cm (Kagura) Kandatsu Kogen 90cm Maiko Snow Resort 90cm (upper) 20cm (lower) Muikamachi Hakkaisan 80cm Naeba 70cm NASPA Ski Garden 65cm Yuzawa Kogen 90cm Yuzawa Nakazato 60cm Yuzawa Park 35cm Yuzawa Now 2015-2016 season Data as of Tuesday 12th January 2016 Total snowfall at base so far 122cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 12 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 30cm 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 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