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 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 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 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

Independent snow and weather reporting from the Yuzawa & Minamiuonuma region of Niigata New snowfall at base 30cm Snowfall at base this season 739cm Posted on Thursday 8th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . More snow to report this morning. About the same amount of fresh snow here in town as we had yesterday morning, so about 20cm or so. That's in addition to the 10-20cm that we had during the day yesterday, so I'm calling it at at least 30cm since my last report. No doubt more higher up, so we have had a very nice refresh these last two days. It's another cold morning here and the snow is continuing to fall coming in helped on by a moderate northly wind, and is forecast to for the day easing up by tomorrow. I'm too early with my report this morning for some of the below numbers to be updated for the day. I have just seen though that Tashiro will need to be closed again today due to wind and also all of the Kagura area apart from Mitsumata. They are reporting 30cm fresh this morning. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 320cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 260cm Iwappara: 215cm Joetsu Kokusai: 190cm Kagura: 290cm Kandatsu Kogen: 250cm Maiko Snow Resort: 260cm Naeba: 220cm NASPA Ski Garden: 215cm Yuzawa Kogen: 260cm (Kogen) 210cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 190cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Thursday 8th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 739cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 22 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 180cm 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 30cm Snowfall at base this season 669cm Posted on Saturday 3rd January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Another large delivery of snow has arrived in Yuzawa and Minamiuonuma. Here's the observations and reports coming in: My car - 30cm Maiko Snow Resort - 20+cm Kagura - 50cm Naeba - 30-50cm Going back to yesterday, by the afternoon many clouds cleared up somewhat especially leaving us the sun shining down on some of the slopes. Some lovely late afternoon scenes in the region. It was back to snow in the evening though and this morning there's just over 30cm on the car outside. Round the back of my house area, the snow that is piled up naturally (ie on a large piece of flat land) is now way higher than me - I'd say closer to 3m than 2m. Apparently there's quite a strong wind at higher elevations and I can see that early on the Tashiro area and the Kagura Number 1 Quad and Number 4 and 5 lifts are not moving. That may well change with the change in weather conditions. Talking of which, conflicting forecasts on what to expect today. More snow or a clearing of the skies? What they seem to be able to agree on is that from tomorrow it shouldn't be quite as cold as it has been and there's a good chance of fine and sunny conditions on Monday. That shouldn't last long though with a return of snow clouds from Tuesday. --- It may not be open early this morning due to the wind but it's worth another mention that Kagura have opened the Kagura Number 5 top pair lift from January 1st this season. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 330cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 230cm Iwappara: 225cm Joetsu Kokusai: 190cm Kagura: 250cm Kandatsu Kogen: 275cm Maiko Snow Resort: 270cm Naeba: 220cm NASPA Ski Garden: 265cm Yuzawa Kogen: 250cm (Kogen) 200cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 200cm --- Nighta in the area Nighta 'night skiing' - where some slopes are floodlit for skiing and snowboarding in the evening, is available at the following resorts in the area. Ishiuchi Maruyama: Every day until 21st March (until 8:50pm) Iwappara: Every day until 22nd March (until 8pm on weekdays and Sundays, 9pm on Saturdays) Joetsu Kokusai: Every day until 22nd March (until 9pm) Kandatsu Kogen: From 23rd January, 'all night' on holidays (6pm or 10pm until 4am the next morning) Maiko Snow Resort: Every day until 14th March (until 8pm) Naeba: Every day until 29th March (until 9pm) NASPA Ski Garden (skiers only): 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays until 29th February (until 7pm) Yuzawa Nakazato: 27th December until 3rd January; 11th January; Saturdays from 10th January until 14th March (until 8:30pm) Chateaux Shiozawa also have nighta but only on certain days - no fixed schedule available. Resorts not mentioned above do not operate 'nighta'. Some resorts offer tickets that include nighta, others need a seperate lift ticket. Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 3rd January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 669cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 19 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 110cm 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 20cm Snowfall at base this season 689cm Posted on Sunday 4th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Just a slight dusting of snow since yesterday evening as eventually the snow clouds cleared up - could actually see the shape of the mountains - though it was snowing pretty much for all of the day yesterday, heavily at times even in town. While Kagura and other resorts say no new snow this morning that doesn't take into account what fell during the day, so I'm giving them the same 20cm (at least) that we had here on the report stats. This morning is an overcast/cloudy start to the day - brighter towards the south of the Yuzawa area than out in the Minamiuonuma valley. It's not quite as cold this morning and later today and overnight we are told to expect a bit more light snow (starting off as rain at lower levels maybe). There's hope that tomorrow might see sunshine and some blue skies. We're going through one of those periods when it seems that three different local forecasts will give you differing ideas as to what to expect, so looks like it's difficult to read. --- Some sobering news yesterday on hearing that three snowboarders are missing after not reporting back in with friends and family the evening before. They had been up at Kagura and while search teams were out yesterday, conditions were not good for such a search. Apparently they will continue looking this morning so hopefully the missing people will be found. While details aren't known of what happened there, it reminds us how easy it is in blizzard conditions and with lots of fresh deep snow for things to happen whether it's just going the wrong way in poor visibility or something else. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 340cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 280cm Iwappara: 215cm Joetsu Kokusai: 190cm Kagura: 290cm Kandatsu Kogen: 260cm Maiko Snow Resort: 260cm Naeba: 220cm NASPA Ski Garden: 265cm Yuzawa Kogen: 250cm (Kogen) 200cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 200cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 4th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 689cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 20 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 130cm 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 20cm Snowfall at base this season 709cm Posted on Wednesday 7th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Back to snow! Yes, very happy to report a return to snow falling from the skies and around 20cm or so on the ground. Here's what I'm getting from resorts (and the top of my car): My car - 20cm Maiko Snow Resort - over 20cm Kagura - 20cm Yesterday we avoided rain until around noon. Even had some blue sky in areas from time to time and the sun trying to appear, though it didn't feel like it got as warm as was forecast. In the end though rain won out, and it was falling in the afternoon. That had changed to snow by night time though and so here we are with 20cm fresh snow on the ground. It's really coming down as I look outside the wind now as well. Lots please! Snow forecast for the day today and into tomorrow as well and in fact snow clouds shouldn't be far away over the next week. It's definitely colder this morning and it should remain cold as well. Strong winds are preventing the Tashiro area to open though this morning and it's limited at Kagura as well up the Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift. Other resorts seem to be planning to be open as planned. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 300cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 230cm Iwappara: 185cm Joetsu Kokusai: 190cm Kagura: 290cm Kandatsu Kogen: 230cm Maiko Snow Resort: 240cm Naeba: 220cm NASPA Ski Garden: 215cm Yuzawa Kogen: 250cm (Kogen) 200cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 190cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Wednesday 7th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 709cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 21 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 150cm 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 25cm Snowfall at base this season 799cm Posted on Saturday 10th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . Welcome to the long weekend! With Monday a holiday here in Japan, it's one of the main weekends of the season and so places expect to see quite a few people turn up. So what's it going to be like? Snowy by the looks. Back to yesterday and we had snowfall through most of the day, though it was pretty weak at times and we even had a few bits of sun and blue sky show through - but it was always short-lived. Conditions out on the slopes was great though. Really very nice. By evening it was back to at times heavy snow and this morning I have 25cm of new snow to report from outside the building here. Maiko Snow Resort reports about 20cm. Kagura reports 20cm. Naeba reports 3-10cm. No other specific numbers on offer that I can find early on. It's snowing still and forecast to for the day today and tomorrow too. So snow conditions should be excellent pretty much everywhere in the area. Visibility less so. A moderate wind at times maybe but all resorts are set to open as planned and it's not that cold. It's one of the things lots of people like about this area - huges amounts of snow, but we don't get the crazy cold temperatures that some other regions get. --- I was just looking back at the reports from last season. (You can find them in all the archive reports below). As of 10th January 2014, we had observed 208cm of snowfall around town here. Today, that same statistic stands at a whopping 794cm. Nearly 4 times as much. I don't THINK there's a mistake in the automatic calculations there (!), but while we are quite obviously getting a lot more snow fall this year than last, even I'm surprised at that number. Worth noting that those observed numbers are posted by the same person from exactly the same place, so there's no change there. Have a great weekend. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 370cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 320cm Iwappara: 245cm Joetsu Kokusai: 200cm Kagura: 300cm Kandatsu Kogen: 280cm Maiko Snow Resort: 290cm Naeba: 230cm NASPA Ski Garden: 278cm Yuzawa Kogen: 270cm (Kogen) 220cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 210cm --- Nighta in the area Nighta 'night skiing' - where some slopes are floodlit for skiing and snowboarding in the evening, is available at the following resorts in the area. Ishiuchi Maruyama: Every day until 21st March (until 8:50pm) Iwappara: Every day until 22nd March (until 8pm on weekdays and Sundays, 9pm on Saturdays) Joetsu Kokusai: Every day until 22nd March (until 9pm) Kandatsu Kogen: From 23rd January, 'all night' on holidays (6pm or 10pm until 4am the next morning) Maiko Snow Resort: Every day until 14th March (until 8pm) Naeba: Every day until 29th March (until 9pm) NASPA Ski Garden (skiers only): Saturdays until 29th February (until 7pm) Yuzawa Nakazato: Saturdays from 10th January until 14th March (until 8:30pm) Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Saturday 10th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 799cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 24 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 240cm 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 25cm Snowfall at base this season 824cm Posted on Sunday 11th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . The crazy snow situation continues into today. 25cm more snow here in town level since yesterdays report. Maiko reporting 25+cm. Kagura report 20cm and Naeba reporting 10-30cm. I have explained this previously, but the reason we are mentioning those particular resorts with the new snowfall numbers here is because they are the only ones that are sharing such data - if there was data from other places, we'd mention it here. (And if anyone knows of any data that might be available and we are missing, do let us know and we'll be happy to mention it). If I ran a skijo, it's a number I'd get out there every morning It's still snowing and that's what is forecast for the day today and quite possibly into tomorrow as well. Tuesday onwards though it's looking like sunny skies will dominate for a few days. --- It was in the local Japanese newspaper on Friday about how the numbers of skiers and snowboarders visiting the resorts in Niigata over New Year was down on last year. The reason given being the heavy snowfall putting lots of people off. Sounds odd doesn't it. (The one thing they also mentioned was the increase in number of foreigners on the slopes). This long weekend I am sure that the resorts were really hoping for some nice sunny weather to get lots of people out, and so they'll have mixed feelings about this heavy snowfall again.... I have spoken to a few resort folk over the last few days and while they are happy that there's lots of snow, the general feeling now seems to be 'we have enough!' and just regular topups would be ideal. So much snow creates a lot of work for locals as well and visitors can see people out and about with shovels and other tools of the trade to try and cope with the huge volumes of snow. I wonder how the rest of the season will work out. It sure will be interesting to find out! --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 360cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 320cm Iwappara: 270cm Joetsu Kokusai: 200cm Kagura: 300cm Kandatsu Kogen: 300cm Maiko Snow Resort: 330cm Naeba: 230cm NASPA Ski Garden: 277cm Yuzawa Kogen: 280cm (Kogen) 230cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 215cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Sunday 11th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 824cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 25 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 265cm 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 30cm Snowfall at base this season 854cm Posted on Monday 12th January 2015 This is an archived report. The latest Yuzawa Now report can be found here . A later report this morning... snow clearing was necessary. It was snowing for most of the day yesterday, though weaker at times, but we were back to heavier snowfall in the evening and this morning there is another 30cm of fresh snow to report. My observation - 30cm Maiko Snow Resort - 20cm Kagura - 30-40cm Naeba - 30-50cm Some resorts were really very busy yesterday. I tried to get to Maiko late morning but couldn't get there, the car park was full! There were actually cars waiting in line for people to leave before they could enter. Smaller resorts were getting some people due to that overflow. Totally personal opninion here, but snow conditions were not quite as good as I was expecting - heavier than I was hoping for. Looks like lighter snow overnight though so I would imagine that conditions are very good this morning. I have no doubt that higher places are totally coming up with the goods though just now. Well, when they'll open. Unfortunately Tashiro is closed today due to strong winds and it looks like early morning via Mitsumata it's open up until the Kagura Number 1 Romance pair lift. They seem to be saying that the quad may open depending on conditions. Yesterday I said that the rest of this week we should see lots of sunshine. Current forecasts are disagreeing a bit on that front with some saying more a mix of cloud and even a bit of rain. No, please just no! I think most people now would like a bit of a break from the snow and a few days of fine and clear skies with some sunshine. --- Official snow depths: GALA Yuzawa: 390cm Ishiuchi Maruyama: 340cm Iwappara: 260cm Joetsu Kokusai: 230cm Kagura: 300cm Kandatsu Kogen: 300cm Maiko Snow Resort: 330cm Naeba: 250cm NASPA Ski Garden: 303cm Yuzawa Kogen: 290cm (Kogen) 240cm (Nunoba) Yuzawa Nakazato: 220cm Yuzawa Now 2014-2015 season Data as of Monday 12th January 2015 Total snowfall at base so far 854cm Number of days snowfall observed at base 26 days Most snowfall observed in 1 day 100cm (15th December) November 2014 snowfall 0cm December 2014 snowfall 559cm reported on 16 days January 2015 snowfall 295cm 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