No Snow on mainland Japan

[Sprucegoose]

Heads up guys arrived Hakuba today and the only snow is at the top of the mountains and then it's dicey.

Looking at other places Canada continues to excite

 

[emeline]

Heads up guys arrived Hakuba today and the only snow is at the top of the mountains and then it's dicey.

Looking at other places Canada continues to excite

Oh no, my friend is heading to Hakuba on boxing day. I hope it's picked up by then, she's been talking about it for months!

 

[burmans]

Tell me about it, I'm headed to Nozawa Onsen 1st Jan. But things are looking up, they had 40cm last week, 30 predicted this so am hoping it will be OK (and in the past actual falls have been better than the predictions).

https://www.j2ski.com/snow_forecast/Japan/Nozawa_Onsen_snow.html

Reputedly snow isn't that good in Europe this year either!

 

[smit0847]

Yikes. I was in Hakuba in Jan last year and there was almost too much snow!

 

[Fifa]

I'm sure the weather will turn for the better.

We are off to Hokkaido at the start of Feb.
Our first stop is Kiroro which has had 2.5m already this year .

And yes, every day I read the snow report for each of the resorts we are visiting.

 

[burmans]

Well latest report from Nozawa says "Today, There will be some light snow throughout; we’re looking at around 8cm in the afternoon and night, and then a few days down the track we’ll be getting a massive dump for christmas! A hefty system looks like it’ll be forming on Friday night and will be leaving its mark on Saturday, with an expected dump of 33cm on the Saturday alone."

I'm thinking (hoping) we will be OK by 2nd Jan.

 

[Cynicor]

Was it a surprise? I'm so excited for this trip that I'm checking 3 different snow reports every day! It has been a poor start for the season which is unusual. Canada is similar with crazy high temps and no snow. Parts of Europe were dumping but have eased so not many great places right now.

In general I'd advise against (in future) arriving on snow prior to Jan or very late December.

 

[burmans]

Well last year some Japanese slopes had 5 meters in December but yes, point taken!

 

[Cynicor]

Sorry, that was more generally directed or to sprucegoose whose OP sounded quite surprised and I assumed they have just rocked up hoping for snow.

I did this in my first year and after that religiously watch the reports.

 

[kevrosmith]

Yes, a couple of years ago, I chose Niseko for a December trip with a hope that being further north would provide a higher guarantee of snow... for me that year, turns out it was a very wise move. Lots of snow in Hokkaido, not much in Hakuba.

 

[baodingren]

I wish i could travel to Hokkaido this year!

 

[Spongbob]

Maybe the snow has been culled for research purposes?

 

[Ausbt]

No Japow for me but then I had two epic weeks already late Jan Nozawa and Hakuba. Even in Japan I think you have to pick late Jan early Feb to be sure. For those going, my fingers are crossed for you.