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The stick shows that snow levels are holding up quite well in March 2009. Whilst this season still lags well behind previous years, we are over half way through March and snow levels have not really dropped since the peak of the season. It feels very springy in the village at the moment, I would expect to see it start dropping from now on.

Skiing in style

New Snow (Resort): 20cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 250cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Warm temperatures throughout the week.
Open Areas: The bottom half of Skyline is now closed, along with all the steeps on the bottom half of the mountain apart from Challenge and Gran Prix.

I was woken up this morning by very heavy rain at about 6am. Around 8am this turned to sleet for a few moments and there were some bursts of very loud thunder and lightening. Very heavy snow fell at the top of the mountain, which delayed the opening of the Yamabiko lifts for 30 minutes. The snow on Yamabiko was around boot deep, but very sticky.  It was so slow that it was actually very difficult to keep momentum going forward.

Yellow sand blown over from the Gobi Desert

There was a 2-3 cm layer brown-yellow tinged snow which probably had an effect on things – this was due to the “Kosa” or yellow sand which gets blown over from the deserts of Mongolia and China. It was really very noticable on the snow today – probably the worst I have ever seen it.

In the forecast we have a couple of very warm days ahead, followed by some showers and light snow.

Up early to enjoy the fresh snow

New Snow (Resort): 5-10cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Fine
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Warm temperatures throughout the week.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

Yesterday evening after a gap of around 2 hours it started snowing again. While there were brief patches of heavy snow it never really got going again, and we didn’t get quite as much fresh as expected.

This morning up on Yamabiko there was 10 cms of windpacked heavy powder. The skies were blue and the crowds out in force, with around 100 people in the queue for the Yamabiko lift at around 930AM.

We are expecting a warm week on the mountain with patches of light snow and rain, becoming fine later in the week with rain over the long weekend.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Rain/sleet in the village, snow on the hill
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Snow throughout the day and overnight.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

Yesterday was warm and windy all day, with the covered lifts closing because of the strong winds. Rain began to fall late in the afternoon, and continued through the night. It became very heavy in the early hours and it was raining cats and dogs when I got up this morning. In the last few minutes it has turned from rain to sleep, with big wet flakes falling in the village. This will hopefully turn into proper snow this afternoon and continue through the evening.

It will be very wet and heavy on the mountain today, with very poor visibility. The level of precipitation is extremely heavy though, so if it continues as temperatures fall, it could be a good powder day tomorrow. Extremely heavy rain has fallen in the last 8 hours, the lower slopes, Karasawa especially will really be taking a battering from this.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Warm, overcast and windy
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Snow for the top of the mountain again this evening.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

It is warm and windy in Nozawa at the moment, the gondola is running at restricted speed. It will be warm even up the top of the mountain – a bad sign with precipitation expected tonight.

Yesterday was an absolutely fantastic day on the mountain – If I were to rate powder days this season, I think yesterday would be top of the list. On Yamabiko we enjoyed knee deep+ powder on a soft base. There was hardly anyone on the mountain and fresh pockets of powder could be found late in the day. Considering we are now in March, the powder was fantastic quality, especially first thing in the morning in areas unaffected by the wind. Overall it was only slightly heavier than what we would expect on a good day in January or February.

Excellent conditions on the mountain yesterday

We have some rain forecast for this evening – the pattern of great snow followed by rain seems to be the story of this season. we should see heavy snow fall after the rain, and some more light snow next week.

New Snow (Resort): 20-30cm (Yamabiko)
New Snow (Village): 5-10cm
Weather: Cloudy with patches of blue sky
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Snow for the top of the mountain again this evening.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

It’s a magnificent day to be in Nozawa today. Snow fell on and off overnight and this morning we awoke to 5-10cm of snow in the village. Up on Yamabiko it was even better, with boot to knee deep snow everywhere. Temperatures are cold and the quality of snow was very good considering March is well under way.

Crowds were not as bad as peak season, but there were still a good number of skiers and boarders out enjoying the powder – including some kind of Japanese freestyle ski “gang” who cluttered up the trees on Yamabiko with their twin tip park skis and intermediate powder styles.

The forecast calls for more snow this evening, and over the weekend too. Another day like today would be fantastic.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: rain/snow and low cloud
Snow Depth: 220cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Snow for the top of the mountain today and tomorrow.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

Today started off gloomy, low cloud has now rolled in and it is raining in the village. It is quite cold up the top of the mountain and snowing reasonably heavily. It is a bit of a write-off today with very poor visibility on the upper slopes, and rain on the very very sticky bottom slopes. The radar forecast for the next six hours shows continued moderate snow, so it looks like tomorrow could be a good day to be on the mountain.

The forecast is for snow and winterlike cold temperatures close to minus 10 today and tomorrow, which should mean great conditions on the mountain. This could be winters last gasp so best to get out and enjoy it!

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: fine
Snow Depth: 220cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Snow for the top of the mountain on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some areas near the bottom closed with more starting to looking doubtful.

It’s another fine day in Nozawa today. High up there is a layer of thin cloud keeping the blue skies out, however visibility is perfect. It’s quite warm too, today should be quite slushy before too long.

In a rather pleasing turn of events, although the forecast has been showing no snow expected for this week, it is now predicting decent snowfall tomorrow and the next day. Another late season powder day would be just what the doctor ordered.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: clear
Snow Depth: 220cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Pretty dry with rain coming on Friday.
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some steeps are closed with more looking doubtful.

It is a fine and hazy day in Nozawa today, with good spring conditions on the mountain. Last night there was a festival held on the Hikage, with fireworks, free soup and sake, and fire skiers.

Weekends are still quite busy, but gone are the huge queues for the Nagasaka Gondola and Yamabiko lifts.

Friday next week looks interesting with a very large system set to come through. This will certainly start off with a spike in temperatures and heavy rain, once it passes through the wind should swing around bringing a drop in temperature and snow. It looks like this has a bit of grunt in it and if temperatures can get low enough it has the potential to be a nice little spring surprise. Let’s just hope for the sake of Karasawa and Skyline that the rain doesn’t do too much damage.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: overcast, with patchy drizzle/very light snow and low cloud.
Snow Depth: 220cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Pretty dry for the next week or so with warm temperatures
Open Areas: Most of the mountain is open, some steeps are closed with more looking doubtful.

We had some snow in the village during the early hours of the morning. There was a few centimetres sitting on car roofs in the village, I imagine this would have been 5-10cm of wet heavy snow up on the peak.

There is a pretty dry week ahead of us, with warmer temperatures expected. There appears to be a low coming through at the end of next week, I will keep an eye on that over the next couple of days to see if it means any new snow.

There is a fireworks festival on tonight at Hikage, starting at 7pm.