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New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: fine
Snow Depth: 215cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Some light snow showers over the weekend, moderate snow expected on Sunday night.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman which probably won’t be open again this season.

It is a beautiful sunny day in Nozawa today, there is not a cloud in the sky. Yesterday saw light snow fall throughout the day to give the icy runs a little relief. Visibility was poor throughout the day so it is nice to see the sun again.

The mountain is crowded as usual for a Saturday in February, weekends should be less busy from now on as weather improves and Japan moves into spring.

It looks like the snow has gotten as high up on the stick as it is going to this season. A peak of 270cm – Not fantastic but it could have been worse. It is a little early to be reflecting on the season just yet…

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: overcast
Snow Depth: 220cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Fine weather over the weekend with some light snow showers. Moderate snowfall expected in the first half of next week.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman. Challenge is closed for a Giant Slalom competition – the Katagiri memorial cup.

It is snowing lightly in Nozawa with low cloud almost all the way down the bottom station of the gondola. The snow-flakes are very small so unlikely to amount to much. Up the top it is quite windy and cold.

After much freeze-thaw, rain, and a few days without snow, the slopes are absolutely bullet-proof. The only relief you will get is a 2 cm layer of mash on top, which has been scraped off leaving pure ice in many areas. Sharpened edges are highly advised today. After the weekend we have some snow in the forecast for the first half of next week which would help to freshen things up a bit – very much needed at the moment.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: overcast
Snow Depth: 230cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Scattered light snow at the top and light rain in the village over the next week.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman.

Yesterday evening saw light rain fall in the village and snow at the top of the mountain. Looking at the webcams shows the trees are coated in snow which suggests a few centimetres has fallen, despite the resort reporting no new snow. Visibility is poor from about 900m up.

The forecast for the next week calls for the current warm weather to continue, with light snow to the top part of the mountain and rain in the village. There is a base of over 2m on Yamabiko, however snow levels on the lower slopes are depleted. In terms of skiable area we are probably not going to lose anything over the next week, however if the current trend of warm weather continues the danger of losing Karasawa and the lower part of Skyline will arise in early March.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Rain
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Light snow tonight and moderate snow on Friday at Yamabiko.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman.

I woke up this morning to rain in the village. This continued for a few hours all over the mountain including Yamabiko. We also have an temperature inversion in Nozawa giving a temperature of + 5 degrees up top and a few degrees above zero in the village. Most of the rain eased of towards mid day but we still have rain showers across the mountain from time to time. The runs reminded me of late March spring skiing which actually isn’t to bad.

No decrease in the snow depth at Yamabiko has been reported but I can see that the lower parts have suffered quite a lot. However the snow depth is still slightly better than it was before the massive snowfalls we had last week.

New Snow (Resort): 0cm
New Snow (Village): 0cm
Weather: Cloudy with some precipitation
Snow Depth: 240cm (Yamabiko)
Outlook: Precipitation tomorrow and on Friday. Falling as rain on the lower slopes  and as snow up top.
Open Areas: Almost everything is open except Kurokura and Hachiman.

This morning offered clouds with some glimpse of sun here in Nozawa. The runs were good and quite fast despite relatively high temperatures. At about noon the winds picked up and brought in heavier clouds bringing small amounts of rain to the lower slopes. Together with temperatures a bit above zero this made the runs a bit sticky on most of the mountain.

The forecast calls for the precipitation to strengthen some more tomorrow which will unfortenatly bring rain to large parts of the resort. However by tomorrow evening the freezing level will go down again and we are expecting some snow to fall all the way down to the village. The precipitation on Friday will come as snow up top and as rain on the lower parts of the mountain.