Japan · Yamagata

Yonezawa Snow World

米沢スキー場
Off season
Official site
Snow and slopes at Yonezawa Snow World
Photo: Syced / CC0 / Wikimedia Commons

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
253cm

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
486–706 m
Across
1.6 km

The car parks sit right beside Route 13, the road linking Yonezawa and Fukushima, so the slopes begin where you step out of the car. Every run is wide, and primary schools use them for ski lessons. Next door, the Kirakira Oukoku pension village includes inns that take pets. Sources: yonezawa-ski.co.jp, city.yonezawa.yamagata.jp, yonezawa-kankou-navi.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
253cm
per season
Worst of 12 winters
151cm
The middle winter of the 12: 251 cm. The best: 355 cm.
World rank
704
of 3,069 worldwide
Rank in country
189
of 397 in Japan
Elevation rank
247
Highest to lowest, of 397 in Japan. The centre point sits at 581 m, 185 m below the national median.
Quality rank
214
of 397 in Japan
Temp when snowing
−2.1°C
Japanese median: −3.6°C
Rain days
18%
Japanese median: 16%
Days over 5 cm
21%
Japanese median: 15%
Wind when snowing
27km/h
Average daily peak, 10 m above ground across a model grid cell; not the wind on ridges or lift tops
Dryness 29
Frequency 59
Freedom from rain 52
Calm when snowing (model grid) 86

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.

Ski areaDistanceSeasonal snowfallWorld rank
Tengendai Kogen14.0 km379 cm206
Onogawa Onsen16.0 km314 cm430
Miyagi Zao Shichikashuku19.0 km256 cm686
Grandeco Snow Resort20.0 km379 cm206
Yokomuki Onsen Ski Area23.0 km296 cm496

Compare side by side with Tengendai Kogen and Onogawa Onsen →

Runs and lifts

Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.

Marked runs
8
Run length
3.7km
Lifts
5
Vertical
220m
Top 706 m · base 486 m

Run map

NoviceEasyIntermediate Lift
North is up. Runs are coloured by difficulty; black lines are lifts.
Run map

Drag to move around, and use + and − to zoom. On a phone, swipe to move and pinch to zoom in further.

Slope shape, difficulty and lift types

The shape of the mountain

Longest run on the map1.2 km
Steepest pitch26°measured over at least 30 m
Average gradient of the runs12.5°

Which way the slopes face

North 24%
East 1%
South 5%
West 70%

Only 25% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. The most common direction is west (70%).

By difficulty

Novice 2 · 0.8 km
Easy 5 · 2.7 km
Intermediate 1 · 0.2 km

Lift types

  • Chairlift5

See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗

Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.

When it falls, and how winters differ

Month by month

The most snow falls in January. March brings 49% of January’s snowfall.

68cm
Dec
87cm
Jan
55cm
Feb
43cm
Mar
Average snowfall by month, last 12 winters

Winter by winter

Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 253 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 151 cm; the biggest was 2024/25 with 355 cm (2.4 times as much).

234
151
281
259
235
207
242
303
238
270
355
262
14/1515/1616/1717/1818/1919/2020/2121/2222/2323/2424/2525/26

Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.

How these figures are made

Live cameras

This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. The nearest live view is the road below.

Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.

What was actually measured nearby

Total snowfall from December to March recorded at the 米沢 weather station — 9.7 km from this ski area, 394 m below its mid-slope.

Three-season average515 cm
2023/24347 cm
2024/25706 cm
2025/26492 cm

The figure calculated on this page is 296 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

Hot springs nearby, as analysed

1 hot spring sources with published analyses lie within 5 km of this ski area, nearest first (the hottest is 18.5 °C).

Show the sources
SourceDistanceTemperaturepHType
笠松鉱泉笠松源泉4.7 km18.5℃ cold7.2 neutralsimple

These are analyses of hot spring sources, not a list of baths you can visit. They date from 1910 to 2005, many from decades ago, so today’s temperature and chemistry may differ. Names are as recorded in Japanese. Temperature and pH bands follow Japan’s standard for analysing hot springs.

Source: processed from the hot spring analysis data in the Geothermal Information Database (GRES-DB), Geological Survey of Japan, AIST

Worth seeing nearby

Within 20 km in a straight line, nearest first. Some lie over a pass that is closed in winter.

Show the list
PlaceTypeDistance
Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum米沢市上杉博物館Museum12.4 km
Yonezawa Castle米沢城Historic site12.6 km
Uesugi Shrine上杉神社Shrine12.7 km
Yonezawa Uesugi clan cemetery上杉家廟所Historic site13.9 km
Mount Azuma-kofuji吾妻小富士Mountain15.1 km
Iizaka Onsen飯坂温泉Hot spring town19.4 km

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.

Official piste map ↗

Going with children

Kids’ area
Not checked
Childcare
Not checked
Parking
Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)
Rental
Yes (details in Japanese on the official site)

Checked on the official site (12 Oct 2026) · Source. “Not checked” means we have not looked yet. Compare with other ski areas →

Places to stay nearbyPR

Contains advertising. Property names and Rakuten Travel’s booking pages are in Japanese.

5 properties on Rakuten Travel lie within about 3 km of this ski area. The table shows the nearest 5 with a listed price.

Property (links to Rakuten Travel)Lowest listed (per person, tax incl.)RatingDistanceGetting there
ペンションとコテージの山太郎 ¥6,000—0.4 km東北中央道 八幡原インター下車 R13を福島方向へ10分
ペンション おもちゃばこ ¥8,5004.67/5 86 reviews0.4 km東北中央自動車道 米沢八幡原ICより国道13号線を福島方面へ7km、車で約15分。(米沢スキー場内)
ペンション 鳩時計 ¥6,0004.75/5 9 reviews0.5 km東北中央道 八幡原インター下車 R13を福島方向へ10分
ロッヂ ホットタイム ¥6,0005.00/5 14 reviews0.5 km米沢駅からバスで20分
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

6 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.

Nearest: 0.4 km

Show the nearest places

Accommodation data: OpenStreetMap

Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗ · Rakuten Travelad ↗

“ad” marks links that pay us a commission if you book. Links without it are not affiliated.

Guides covering Yamagata

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