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New Snow (Resort): 15cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): no snow, plenty of rain.
Weather: Rain in the village, snow on the mountain
Snow Depth: 170cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Rain in the village, snow on the mountain – becoming snow down to the village later.
Open Areas: Lower slopes are badly rain effected. May be some closures.

Unfortunately heavy rain is falling in the village at the moment. The snowline was at around the mid station of the Nagasaka Gondola earlier this morning, however the trees I can see out my window at an elevation of around 800 metres are now beginning to get a white tinge. Heavy snow is falling on Yamabiko, there is around 15cm of heavy snow. Underneath the snow there is a layer of slush, I imagine Yamabiko saw considerable rain last night.

Further down the mountain is a miserable scene. Schneider, Challenge, Utopia and the steep runs of Skyline have taken a hammering from the rain. There is a massive gash-like slip in the run next to the ski jump, and patches of dirt everywhere. Even if there is a lot of snow overnight, be careful on those runs until they get their base back.

Keep your fingers crossed for a drop in temperature, if we get that combined with continued precipitation we could be in for some good conditions later on and over the next few days.

Stick watch graphically exposes a 55cm loss in base depth over the last 10 days.

To put things in perspective, 55cm was lost from the 15th to the 31st of March last season.

This deserves to be photo of the moment – I don’t think there is anyone in this village who doesn’t have SLUSH on their minds right now. This is normally what you would expect on a bad day in March – not smack bang in the middle of the season. Hopefully I can post something nice and powdery tomorrow.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Fine and warm
Snow Depth: 175cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: some rain expected today, becoming heavy snow overnight.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman. Kandahar is open on both sides.

Thankfully the rain has held off and it is another spring like day in Nozawa today. Yesterday evening was warm, and the temperature was above zero all over the mountain. This means that conditions are wet all over, just like skiing at the end of March.

Winter is set to return after a brief period of rain later in the day. Very heavy snow is expected to fall overnight which will undoubtedly bring smiles to the faces of the powder starved. Stick watch coming a bit later on today.

Taken on the top Half of Skyline looking out to Myoko

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 180cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: See weekly report below
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman. Kandahar is open on both sides.

Today has been another fine day on the mountain, reminiscent of a nice day in March. The snow at the top of the mountain has held up pretty well all in all, and it was a fun day up there. Yamabiko is just holding on snow quality wise, however the rest of the mountain is rock hard in the morning and sherbetty in the afternoon.

We are looking at further deterioration of the conditions tomorrow, as heavy rain is expected. I am sure most people will be looking past that and concentrating on the weather which is due to come in over the weekend. The storm looks big enough to reset the whole mountain and hopefully shephard in a fantastic February…. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

There is a developing depression currently approaching Japan from the Southwest which is going to provide some interesting weather over the next few days.

The origin of this system is tropical so the moisture content is high and the precipitation models are showing the heaviest precipitation to approach Nozawa so far this season. The downside to this is that to begin with it will be reasonably warm. 

The current prediction has it tracking Northeast along the east coast of Honshu. This will initially push warmer southerly and easterly winds towards Nozawa with accompanying rain. The rain should begin to fall on Friday morning. As the system pushes North the winds will swing to the northerly quarter and the temperatures will drop. 

By late friday snow should develop and gradually lower to village level during Saturday. If the Low can slow it progress and stick close to the Honshu coast north of Tokyo this could produce a day of knee deep powder on Sunday.

I’ll be looking for a stick watch report early next week showing the levels well up above 2m again.

Beyond this we can expect a few falls next week and possibly a larger and colder low around the 7th/8th of Feb tracking down from Russia.

New Snow (Resort): 3cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): sprinkling
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 185cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: rain at the end of the week and then snow over the weekend.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman. Kandahar is closed for Nozawa Onsen Junior Ski Cup.

Today is another bluebird day with great views out to the Japan Sea and over to Myoko. A few centimetres of snow fell overnight and Yamabiko has been freshened up a little. The rest of the mountain is quite crunchy. A few more people on the mountain today compared to the average weekday, it seems there are a few school groups in town.

Today isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination: blue skies, perfect vis, empty slopes with no lift lines and a few centimetres up top makes for a very fun days skiing. However what we all hope and pray for at this time of year is knee deep pow. The forecast is looking like bringing us some unseasonal heavy rain and then a big powder dump over the weekend. Fingers crossed it does come through with a decent fall, there are a lot of powder starved skiers and boarders waiting in anticipation.

Sano San and Make Peace Lab – Secret place between Nagano on Niigata.

New Snow (Resort): 2cm
New Snow (Village): 1cm
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 180cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: rain at the end of the week and then snow over the weekend.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura which is not too far away. Kandahar is closed for Nozawa Onsen Junior Ski Cup.

Well the promised rain did not come through as hoped, conditions on the mountain will be dust on hard pan. If you like powder the last 10 days has really been almost a complete write off.

If you are getting to Nozawa on Friday, don’t forget your umbrella – heavy rain is expected in the village. Saturday and Sunday should finally see some decent snow fall. It is really needed to freshen things up a bit.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 195cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: moderate snow expected tonight.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura which is not too far away. Kandahar is closed for special training.

More of the same today, very icy runs and cold temperatures. The sun is out and the sky is blue at the moment, but towards Myoko and the Japan sea there are some ominous looking clouds. With a bit of luck they might make there way over towards Nozawa, and we are going to get some snow tonight.

I can’t think of much else to write so I am going to leave it at that. Happy Australia Day – Jo will be throwing a few snags on the barby at Stay bar tonight to celebrate.