05 Jan Current Snow Conditions in Yuzawa – Jan 5th

A belated happy New Year. We hope 2016 brings you everything that you are wishing for, and if that happens to be snow, you could be in luck.

It has been a really slow year for snow by Japanese standards, with lots of resorts having to delay their opening dates. Not all resorts are fully open yet but there is still plenty of skiing to be had in the area. [Pro Tip: Jump into a lesson now so your are in top form when the snow arrives.] After the heavy New Year traffic there are some thin patches on many of the lower slopes but the forecast is for a top up of snow this week. Fingers crossed.

Heavy snow tends to be the norm in winter here in Snow Country but some years are snowier than others. Here’s a visual comparison of the deepest snow depth in a season over the last 34 years from Kyororo in Matsunoyama.

34 years of snow data for Matsunoyama in Tokamachi at Kyororo

There are three years out of those thirty four that had unimpressive snow. The question is now whether this season will put in a  concerted effort to catch up or will it be happy languishing at the bottom of the table?

We’ll have to wait and see, but no matter what the weather does, there is plenty of skiing here at the moment and good conditions for lessons if you are looking to level up.

EDIT:

We weren’t going to post this one from 1984, but….

Jealous?