Fire festival memories
Base at top: 350 cm
Temp at Top: -8 Degree
Base at Uenotaira station: 265 cm
New snow since close: 10 cm
Weather: Isolated snow showers
Delivered for us this morning courtesy of a light NW breeze we have 10cm of fresh japow up the top of Nozawa Onsen. This is certainly not any dramatic figure however it is enough to cover the icy ground on and off piste to about boot deep levels. Therefore today expect some decent skiing that is better at higher elevations and dust on crust lower down. Thanks to the warm temperatures over the last few days death cookies are plentiful off piste. Combined with the flat light caution is required to avoid hitting these semi buried cookies that can do severe damage to unsuspecting skiers and boarders. Sharp edges wouldn’t go astray on piste today which in high traffic areas may become icy as the day wears on.
Yesterday we saw rain increase into the afternoon but the snow remained in good condition, still flowing fast even with the increased moisture content. It appears any damage to the base was minimal as much of the water was simply absorbed by the deep snow. The entire upper half of the mountain remained closed as a moderate southerly wind fanned the mountain all day long.
Looking ahead and snowfalls will linger on and off today becoming heavier overnight tonight. I am hopeful for 20-30cm on the ground at dawn tomorrow. On Monday the temperatures will warm again climbing back up to around 5C in the village. But this spike will be short lived as snowfalls douse the region overnight into Tuesday. From then on light snow showers are predicted on and off for the rest of the week to around 500m. Overall the next week looks quite similar to our early January weather.
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