Iwatake?Day 1 of the season for me: I'm sure someone will know the spot in Nagano. bottomless, good quality powder on piste at the top, wet heavy snow and hitting grass at the bottom.
Japan The Japanese snow season 2020-2021 Weather
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Going off GFS it looks that way around new years.JMA have updated their early warning of heavy snow today. Several days ago, it was only issued to Tohoku but now the early warning has been issued to all major ski regions of Japan, which is nice
Too much snow to be honest. Will be chaos.
BerzerkLows this close bring some crazy conditions in places that don't get heavy snow often.
Those little lows off Tokyo can promote moisture into the fetch from the Sea of Japan.
However the moisture comes from the east...
Snow in strange places at times.Clear weather in Nagano city this afternoon. This was 4.20pm, last light hitting the mountains.
The past two days in Myoko have been very good, flawless snow conditions, although some steeper areas have some fairly large cracks due to so much snow in such a short time falling on grass. From the 30th it looks like at least 3 days of big snow. Bracing ourselves for this one, still getting rid of the previous snow.
I'm not sure it's possible that it will snow more than the last big dump, it might just happen.
That big area of high pressure over Siberia is a good sign..... perfect position and pressure is very high.
Some specific regions had mega snowfall around Dec 16th but Aizu region had just good snow. This is the snow condition around one of our ski lodges in Aizu region (about 850m asl). Last season was by far the worst season, so it makes us feel this season is nicer than average season, but I'd say the snow condition here is rather normal (or slightly better) as the last several days of the year. I think that another big snowfall = the snowdepth will be ideally set for backcountry / sidecountry here and the another big dump is likely to come in a few days (by the way, the animal is a Japanese monkey. He / she might be the one who ate our fruits in our absence)
GFS has been on it for the last week. It seems to be on the ball this year. The next wave from the 4th looks like it will just continue coming in. 3+ meters over the next 2 weeks if I read it correctlyThat big area of high pressure over Siberia is a good sign..... perfect position and pressure is very high.
That first dump was crazy, this is me digging out my estima after it stopped. I don't need a repeat but it seems we will have one
Now, it's getting "a little bit scary". JMA say Hokuriku (it's roughly the snowiest region of Central Honshu) can have 70cm - 100cm between 6am of 30th and 6am of 31st then another 80cm - 120cm between 6am of 31st and 6am of Jan 1st. So, they are saying it can have 220cm of snowfall in 48 hours. Not only that, they have issued another early warning on extremely heavy snow from January 3rd onward. The image below is the early warning.
Going to be chaos with all the new years travel.Now, it's getting "a little bit scary". JMA say Hokuriku (it's roughly the snowiest region of Central Honshu) can have 70cm - 100cm between 6am of 30th and 6am of 31st then another 80cm - 120cm between 6am of 31st and 6am of Jan 1st. So, they are saying it can have 220cm of snowfall in 48 hours. Not only that, they have issued another early warning on extremely heavy snow from January 3rd onward. The image below is the early warning.
This could be dangerous, because a lot of people don't know what can happen if you are skiing/snowboarding and the snow is too deep.... I mean suffocating or getting stuck in a terrain trap.Now, it's getting "a little bit scary". JMA say Hokuriku (it's roughly the snowiest region of Central Honshu) can have 70cm - 100cm between 6am of 30th and 6am of 31st then another 80cm - 120cm between 6am of 31st and 6am of Jan 1st. So, they are saying it can have 220cm of snowfall in 48 hours. Not only that, they have issued another early warning on extremely heavy snow from January 3rd onward. The image below is the early warning.
Sometimes, it CAN be too deep!!
That chart has a lot of westerly snow ...look at gifuNow, it's getting "a little bit scary". JMA say Hokuriku (it's roughly the snowiest region of Central Honshu) can have 70cm - 100cm between 6am of 30th and 6am of 31st then another 80cm - 120cm between 6am of 31st and 6am of Jan 1st. So, they are saying it can have 220cm of snowfall in 48 hours. Not only that, they have issued another early warning on extremely heavy snow from January 3rd onward. The image below is the early warning.
Body is already sore just thinking how much snow clearance will need to be done. Looks like there will be rain first with freezing level around 1300, hopefully that helps to melt the last of the previous snow around the place. Never thought I would worship rain (as long as there is snow straight after).
Wet snow just started falling in Echoland. Looks about 10-15cms up top already. Looks like a huge couple of days ahead of us.
Low pressure across central Japan (raining here in Yokohama)
Wind turning to the north, to west of Korea.
Sea/lake effect snow in the Sea of Japan already. Later today, that cold air will crash into the the cloud associated with the low pressure.
IMO, later today, snow will also hit areas >80-100km from the Sea of Japan coast
Been raining solidly here too at around 2C. Forecast promised snow but no such luck.
Not sure how much we will get in the way of snow later today, or whether it will compensate for what's melted away overnight...
But if the temperatures drop as predicted with the roads this wet, will be nasty with or without new snow.
Air is currently circulating from the south. My expectation for your location not far from Karuizawa was always warmer, south of the main Japan Alps this morning.
I would expect snow to fall in your neck of the woods later this afternoon, or tonight. (what's the elevation where you are? ~1200m?)
Colder air pushing into Kyushu, with Fukuoka dropping from 11.6 just after midnight, down to 4.1 degrees at 11am.
A westerly wind in western Honshu, with Matsue dropping from 9 degrees at 3am, to 5.3 degrees at 11am.
We can watch the progression of the cold air.
Here in Yokohama, after a top of 15.3 degrees just after 7am, it's dropped 6.2 degrees in two hours(and 8.2 degrees in 4 hours), currently 7.1 degrees at 11am.
I'm at 1150m on the northern foothills of Mt. Asama.
Would be surprised if we didn't see any snow tonight but it seems to be a roll of the dice when the snow comes from the SoJ side. Sometimes we get heavy snow, sometimes a howling wind and no snow to speak of.
Karuizawa and beyond get very little lake effect snow so it seems Mt. Asama serves as a barrier.
Yesterday evening got cold before wind and a sudden temp increase during the night - check Karuizawa's temperatures from yesterday pm. Wasn't quite as pronounced here, but was -3 at 10pm and above zero when I went to bed.
Great photo！It's snowing hard in Zao Onsen now (and it seems it has started snowing in the downtown of Yamagata city at 150m asl too). The visibility is bad as usual.
Great photo！
Haha, it was about at 900m asl, relatively low altitude. 1300m asl or higher, the visibility is even worse, and somehow, it's not that rare in Zao mountains.
Just a slurry mix in the village atm. 100 meters up from the bases would be snowing properly. Wind is just starting to pick up.
Well, it's a low pressure trough tight over the top. 19 degrees on some parts of the Pacific coast right now. It's getting colder in western Honshu
give it an hour and we are going to get pukage. (actually only took 20 minutes ) For the gif check out https://weather.yahoo.co.jp/weather/satellite/ I can't seem to download it. Impressive.
Temperatures are dropping and snow is starting to fall down to the coast in Niigata.
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From JMA weather station sites today(last few hours, to 5pm):
- Takada, 13m: 0.3 degrees, 40cm snow (+4cm)
- Yasuzuka, 126m: -0.7 degrees, 94cm snow (+10cm)
- Tsunan, 452m: -2.5 degrees, 147cm snow (+11cm)
- Shinano-machi, 685m: -3.6 degrees, 36cm snow(+12cm)
Central Japan resort areas:
- Yuzawa, 340m: -1.5 degrees, 112cm snow depth.(+10cm)
- Sekiyama(near Myoko), 350m: -1.6 degrees, 79cm snow depth.(+19cm)
- Hakuba, 703cm: -3.8 degrees, 10cm snow depth. (+10cm). In the valley, away from the mountains
- Otari (near Cortina), 550m: - degrees, 55cm snow depth.(+20cm)
- Nozawa Onsen, 576m: -3.2 degrees, 87cm snow depth.(+15cm)
Hokkaido:
- Kutchan (near Niseko), 176m: -8.8 degrees, 97cm snow depth. (+0cm)
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The places I get my cues from, for snowfall and freeze level are:
- Takada. About 2km from the sea, elevation 13 metres. This usually has substantial amounts of snow through the season (often 2m+ base). This is a good indicator for: 1 How much precip there is close to the coast. 2. how cold it is at sea level.
This is a good indicator for Myoko & Hakuba, and Nozawa Onsen to some extent.
- Yasuzuka. It is the Niigata foothills, 15km from the sea, and 25km due north of Nozawa Onsen and 35km NW of Yuzawa. Elevation 126m. This is a great indicator for precip a little ways from the coast, with just enough elevation to get substantial snow. You can get a feel for temperature and snow for the eastern Nagano resorts and Niigata
- Tsunan about 30km from the coast, in line with Yasuzuka. 20km on the road from Nozawa Onsen, & 10 km SE of Cupid Valley, 452m elevation. It cops huge amounts of snow.
- Shinano-machi (just across the border in Nagano, about 10km south of Myoko, at 685m. A good indicator for inland penetration, and amount of snow hitting the south side of Myoko resorts (e.g. Suginohara)Only 10cm max at my place so far, very small wind affected flakes. Tbh it doesn't seem like a heavy hitter system, the intensity of snowfall is less than the last dump by quite a margin.
Tomorrow will show dangerous cornices and drifts at resorts with icy patches on exposed areas IMO
Its so windy, some places will be measuring drifts in the morning so factor that in.
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From JMA weather station sites today(last few hours, to 9pm):
- Takada, 13m: -0.3 degrees, 42cm snow (+6cm)
- Yasuzuka, 126m: -1.6 degrees, 104cm snow (+20cm)
- Tsunan, 452m: -2.5 degrees, 162cm snow (+26cm)
- Shinano-machi, 685m: -5.6 degrees, 57cm snow(+32cm)
Central Japan resort areas:
- Yuzawa, 340m: -3.1 degrees, 129cm snow depth.(+27cm)
- Sekiyama(near Myoko), 350m: -3.4 degrees, 92cm snow depth.(+32cm)
- Hakuba, 703cm: -5.8 degrees, 28cm snow depth. (+28cm). In the valley, away from the mountains
- Otari (near Cortina), 550m: - degrees, 55cm snow depth.(+42cm)
- Nozawa Onsen, 576m: -4.9 degrees, 106cm snow depth.(+34cm)
Hokkaido:
- Kutchan (near Niseko), 176m: -15.5 degrees, 97cm snow depth. (+0cm)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The places I get my cues from, for snowfall and freeze level are:
- Takada. About 2km from the sea, elevation 13 metres. This usually has substantial amounts of snow through the season (often 2m+ base). This is a good indicator for: 1 How much precip there is close to the coast. 2. how cold it is at sea level.
This is a good indicator for Myoko & Hakuba, and Nozawa Onsen to some extent.
- Yasuzuka. It is the Niigata foothills, 15km from the sea, and 25km due north of Nozawa Onsen and 35km NW of Yuzawa. Elevation 126m. This is a great indicator for precip a little ways from the coast, with just enough elevation to get substantial snow. You can get a feel for temperature and snow for the eastern Nagano resorts and Niigata
- Tsunan about 30km from the coast, in line with Yasuzuka. 20km on the road from Nozawa Onsen, & 10 km SE of Cupid Valley, 452m elevation. It cops huge amounts of snow.
- Shinano-machi (just across the border in Nagano, about 10km south of Myoko, at 685m. A good indicator for inland penetration, and amount of snow hitting the south side of Myoko resorts (e.g. Suginohara)
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