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It has been very un-January like in Japan recently as warm temperatures and sadly rain have affected the resorts even up in Hokkaido. The siberian high which generates the cold northwesterly winds has been missing in action lately. When it did appear around the 23rd of Jan it was so far west the northwesterlies barely affected the Korean peninsula and we missed out altogether in Japan.

The current situation has a weak low pressure system moving northeast through the sea of Japan. A small amount of snow could be expected from this as it moves through. Following this is a significant high pressure system which will bring sunny skies through until Thursday the 29th.

The long range outlook has rain turning to snow on Friday the 30th. Then a few more days of sunny skies and hopefully some moisture coming through around the 6th of Feb.

A Sunday afternoon in Nozawa after a long day’s skiing.

This little shrine is on Skyline, and I found a few enjoying the afternoon skiing and sunshine.

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.

In a short burst of very heavy snow 10 days ago, the stick got it to over 2 metres and was looking quite good. Since then we have had not much snow, warm temperatures and even rain. The stick needs a lot more snow to get back on track.

New Snow (Resort): 5cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 2cm
Weather: overcast
Snow Depth: 195cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: mixed reports including some snow
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura which is not too far away. Kandahar is closed for special training.

Yesterday saw rain fall on and off throughout the day, turning to sleet and finally snow late in the evening. Sometimes when it rains, afterwards a big system is pulled through and we see a lot of snow. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, there was no snow falling when I woke up this morning, and only a centimetre or two in the village.

There is some variation in the weather reports on TV and the internet. The television seems to be confident of reasonable snow until Tuesday, whilst the internet tells me there isn’t much on the way. I hope the television is right.

Stick Watch coming later in the day.

Warm temperatures overnight and a little rain haven’t helped the slopes.  The whole Nagano area is feeling it a bit at the moment. Yesterday we had a mission to nearby Myoko Kogen ski resort and it was like spring skiing.  It’s really hard to believe it’s only the 3rd week of January.

The good news is that temperatures are expected to dive below zero again later today (at last) and get some snow overnight and again Tuesday.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: overcast
Snow Depth: 205cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: snow on Friday night
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura which is not too far away. Kandahar is closed for special training.

There is to be no beating around the bush, today was bad. The entire mountain has been through freeze thaw - even the snow on Yamabiko makes a sherbetty schlurping sound when you went over it. Snow at the bottom of Skyline is horrible: sloppy and chopped up. A warm wax is definitely advised at the moment. What is really going to make me cry into my soba was a scene I saw whilst walking down Oyu Douri (main street Nozawa) today: an ocker kid in shorts, t-shirt and sun cap eating an ice cream. I felt like stopping him and telling him to dress sensibly, until I realised he was.

It is very warm and the snow quality is poor. To look on the bright side, a few things to remember:
-A bad day on the snow is better than a good day at work (unless your job is snow-reporter for Nagano Go).
-Almost the whole mountain is still open.
-It’s still fun up there.
-Even if this turns out to be a terrible terrible season we are still due about another 5 metres of snow to fall.

So everyone keep your fingers crossed and pray that it dumps on Friday night like its meant to!

Sano San - near Karasawa

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: cloudy with poor visibility
Snow Depth: 215cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: light snow tonight, more on Friday
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura which is not too far away. Kandahar is open on both sides.

Today was another warm, spring-like day on the mountain. It was overcast but visibility was great. Most people stuck to Yamabiko-Uenotaira-Paradise, as anything below that had gone through freeze-thaw and wasn’t really in tip-top shape. We are expecting some snow tonight and then heavy snow and cold temperatures again on Friday. Bring it on – it is far too warm at the moment for the middle of January.

Tim shredding his secret location in Noz

About 30cm up top fresh today. Lower slopes were icy and affected by the rain yesterday. This photo is from the upper part of the mountain.

Sadly, the lower mountain got tracked out pretty quickly today and by days end was  choppy and heavy. The morning however was awesome. Thanks for the memories Tim…