Surprise snowfalls to the village

by Mark on January 3, 2017

Miniture Yamabiko yesterday.

Miniture Yamabiko yesterday.

Base at top: 130 cm

Temp at Top: -4 Degree

Base at Uenotaira station: 100 cm

New snow since close: 10 cm

Weather: Snow

Great news this morning out of Nozawa Onsen. The forecast was pretty borderline for rain in the village today however it has swung in our favour with snow falling right to the resort base. There are currently big flakes falling out the window with fresh coverage on the rooftops. Towards the summit 10cm has fallen overnight keeping the base level with yesterday. At -4c the resort is reporting powder up top, but expect it to be heavier powder as the temperature is three degrees above the average morning.

Yesterday we had another day for the groomers. The morning started with passing cloud and was really quite icy across the lower mountain with Yamabiko offering decent but crowded turns. During the afternoon conditions softened with sunshine making an appearance vastly improving the on piste snow. The terrain park was the place to be with soft and forgiving turns, as was some of the steeper lower pistes. Off piste is still not possible, more snow is needed here to push down the many bushes.

Luckily we have a lot of snow in the forecast along with some variable prefrontal warm temperatures. It will be a little warmer tomorrow morning, we will probably get some rain in the village, snow up top. However by the afternoon it will snow in the village again, hopefully repairing any damage that occurs. Thursday will be even colder still with moderate snow showers persisting.

In the long range we have an extremely strong, cold and snowy period starting from Tuesday next week predicted. Its a positive note here the many weather prediction services are coming into line with a similar forecast. A brisk arctic NW wind will deliver strong snowfalls to Honshu from Tuesday 10th till either the 13th or the 17th. The caveat with this is that we also have a potential pineapple express inbound beforehand. Lets hope this slides further south as previously predicted.

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