The arctic temperatures may stop some, but not all.
Base at top: 350 cm
Temp at Top: -12 Degree
Base at Uenotaira station: 260 cm
New snow since close: 30 cm
Weather: Snow
The coldest morning temperatures I can remember are current on the Yamabiko weather station, recording -12c before windchill. For comparisons sake, a normal cold weather temperature for the 8am Yamabiko reading is consistently -7/-8c. Today is much colder than normal with air streaming straight down from the arctic. There are also strong winds up high so when windchill is factored in the apparent temperature will be more like -20/-25c. Therefore if you value your core body temperature maybe add another layer or two today. Thats not to say don’t go riding as the snow conditions are supreme, as good as it gets! 30cm of overnight snow will make for blower Hokkaido snow quality. So dry you may struggle to differentiate the density between the snow and air. But you can’t breath snow so maybe pack a snorkel too and please don’t do anything stupid.
Yesterday was very similar to today, although not quite as cold (yesterdays 8am reading was -10c). But still the snow was fantastic. So dry and deep. The strong winds kept the gondola moving at a snails pace but it was worth the long ride. Crowds were few and fresh tracks were plentiful. Even the sun made an appearance for about an hour around lunchtime, quickly overtaken again by passing snow showers.
According to the forecast we should see snow showers continue at about the current rate for the remainder of today. Snowfalls will become slightly lighter tomorrow with increasing breaks in sunshine. Thursday will be a great day with clear skies, light winds and cold temperatures. Further ahead we are looking at some rapidly undulating temperatures and variable weather. For next weekend until Monday we expect snow, sun and rain in no particular order. It will be cold one day, hot the next and then cold again. Weird. We’ll see what happens…
{ 0 comments… add one now }