Hakuba Snow Report – 5th Feb 2012

Weather conditions: Sunny
New snowfall: 15 to 20 cm (village)
Snow depth: 150cm (Village); 320cm (Top of Goryu)
It is a sunny bright morning in Hakuba Valley. It stopped snowing around midnight last night, and started clearing up around 6am to 7am this morning.This morning the valley temperature is -5C in the valley and the highest will be around -2C. Freezing levels are rising over the next couple of days but will remain mild through today. Wind direction will be from S to SE towards tonight.

20cm of new snow is reported from Hakuba Goryu this morning, 25cm of new snow on the slopes of Cortina and all lifts are open.

The weather forecast is saying that we might have a chance of rain later on Monday with some warm south winds. Temperature will boost up to around 5C highest, so very mild for mid-winter and hopefully that will quickly drop back down again with snow forecast from Tuesday onwards.

Please be careful if you are on Backcountry area. This heavy snow fall, temperature changes and sunlight is a good recipe of avalanche. Please be careful on those terrains where wind slab has formed. Alpine level or tree line level where strong wind has transported is not going to be a good place to enter. That sugary crystal snow which was formed on 28th of January is still an unstable layer. See yesterdays report.

Stay safe and play more.