Cloud and rain for the day yesterday here and this morning for now it is just cloudy but rain on and off is what the forecast is telling us to expect today.

It was relatively mild last night with a low of about 5 degrees in town and it's not much higher than that now as of 8am. Temperatures will rise to around 9 degrees in town later on this afternoon.

We have better visibility this morning so can see that the top areas of the mountains have a dusting of white up there.

Kagura are reporting 5cm of fresh snowfall since yesterday in upper areas.

On the subject of Kagura, yesterday they decided that from today (Saturday) they are going to get their Kagura Number 1 quad lift moving as well as opening part of the Kagura Park ('jib items only'!) from the afternoon. So the main course at Kagura should be open this morning (1500m in length) and while I expect cover the snow isn't 'Kagura deep' yet. The Mitsumata area remains a connecting course to get to Kagura.

Forecast is unfortunately still looking like from tomorrow starting to clear up and during the week sun and warmer conditions. The signs are that we are going to have to wait a bit longer for that first decent snowfall here in town.

We have quite a lot of people emailing SnowJapan asking us if there'll be any resorts open on particular dates. If only we knew the answers! All I can suggest is that you keep an eye on our reports as well as the forecast, and to get an idea of how previous seasons have gone read through the archive reports. There's lots of them.

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Planned opening dates for resorts in Yuzawa Town and Minamiuonuma City (by date):

Currently part open:
The main Kagura course - 1500m in length, real snow (and artificial) - is open.
The Mitsumata (snow-mat) area is currently being used as a connection to get to the open Kagura area.
Operating lifts are Mitsumata Ropeway, Mitsumata Number 1 lift, Mitsumata Number 3 lift, Kagura Gondola, Kagura Number 1 romance pair lift and the Kagura Number 1 high speed quad.
The Kagura Gondola needs to be taken to return back to the Mitsumata area.

On standby to open as soon as there is enough snow:
Iwappara
Joetsu Kokusai

Saturday 12th December:
Kaguta (Tashiro)
Maiko Snow Resort
Naeba

Friday 18th December:
Ishiuchi Maruyama
Muikamachi Ski Resort
Yuzawa Nakazato
Yuzawa Park

Saturday 19th December:
GALA Yuzawa
Ipponsugi
Kandatsu Kogen
Ludens Yuzawa
Nakazato Snow Wood
Muimamachi Hakkaisan
NASPA Ski Garden
Yuzawa Kogen

Thursday 24th December:
Chateaux Shiozawa

Friday 25th December:
Hakkaisanroku

Saturday 26th December:
Itsukamachi
Ishiuchi Hanaoka
Mt Granview

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Ski resorts in Yuzawa town
Ski resorts in Minamiuonuma City