No snow yet. Not open yet for 2026/27. We have not yet found an official opening date. Snow depth and the seven-day outlook appear once snow is on the ground or forecast.
Typical snowfall
273cm
A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →
Elevation
300–399 m
Across
0.5 km
Rope tows pull skiers up the hill. The area is below the Nagai Dam and reopened in December 2011 with an enlarged slope. Updates on the day's conditions go out as they come on the local community radio station, FM Iijan Oranda Radio. Sources: city.nagai.yamagata.jp, yamagatakanko.com (sources read 12 Oct 2026; an AI draft the site operator has not yet checked)
How much snow it gets
Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Seasonal snowfall
273cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
158cm
The middle winter of the 12: 264 cm. The best: 495 cm.
World rank
602
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
168
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
308
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 322 m, 444 m below the national median.
Quality rank
305
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−1.4°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
29%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
18%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
21km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness24
Frequency51
Freedom from rain35
Calm when snowing (model grid)93
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).
Compared with what is nearby
Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.
The most snow falls in January. March brings 34% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in Japan (52%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. In amount, March brings 34 cm, less than the median of 46 cm.
79cmDec
101cmJan
60cmFeb
34cmMar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters
Winter by winter
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 273 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019/20 with 158 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 495 cm (3.1 times as much). For 63% of the 397 ski areas in Japan the leanest winter was 2015/16; here it was a different one.
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What was actually measured nearby
Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 長井 weather station — 3.6 km from this ski area, 126 m below its mid-slope.
Three-season average
460 cm
2023/24
308 cm
2024/25
629 cm
2025/26
444 cm
The figure calculated on this page is 270 cm.
A weather station is not a ski slope. We picked one at a similar elevation, but it stands in a valley or a village. More snow falls on the mountain above it. We have not tried to guess how much more.
Source: Japan Meteorological Agency historical records
Worth seeing nearby
Within 20 km in a straight line, nearest first. Some lie over a pass that is closed in winter.
Chosen from the places most read about on Wikipedia, favouring those with an English article. Based on the Japanese Wikipedia lists of sights in each prefecture, as compiled in travel-log-data (CC BY-SA 4.0). English names from Wikidata (CC0). The content of this section is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Map
The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.
Pick dates and guests to check rooms on Rakuten Travel
Prices are the lowest Rakuten Travel lists; a property name, or “Pick dates and guests” above, shows prices and rooms for your dates.
Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese. · Property data by Rakuten Travel (Supported by Rakuten Developers)
Places to stay on the map
10 places within 12 km of the slopes, as mapped on OpenStreetMap, many of them small inns and pensions. Many are not on booking sites — open the name for the website or the map.
NOAA expects a strong or very strong El Niño this winter. We measured every Japanese ski area across the last 12 winters: El Niño winters ran 88% of normal, and the strongest of the twelve left Japan at 63%. But Hakuba held 92% of its average that winter while Niseko fell to 57%.