Hakuba Valley snow report: base depth, snow in the last day, the seven-day snowfall forecast, temperature and wind for the seven Hakuba ski areas we track.
Hakuba Valley runs about twenty kilometres north to south, and on any given day Sanosaka at the south end and Cortina at the north end can get very different amounts of snow. The table below gives base depth, snowfall in the past day, the seven-day total, temperature and wind for each ski area. Happo-One has over a kilometre of vertical, so treat its base figure separately from what is happening up top.
Satellite snow cover: Daily snow cover from the VIIRS satellite, from pale yellow (patchy) to red (full cover). Snow under cloud does not show. Source: NASA GIBS.
Hakuba generally runs from early December to early April, with Happo-One and Tsugaike sometimes skiing into early May. Base depth peaks in February.
The north end of the valley (Tsugaike, Cortina) catches more snow; the lower southern areas (Sanosaka, Iwatake) melt out sooner. Happo-One reaches past 1,800 m, so its upper slopes hold snow well into spring.
Base depth is measured near the bottom. Happo-One runs from 760 m to 1,831 m, so the upper mountain normally holds far more than the table shows.
Hakuba sits where snow clouds off the Sea of Japan cross the range: more snow to the north, more sunshine to the south.
On windy days the lifts above Happo's Alpen area hold, and traffic shifts to the mid-mountain at Tsugaike and Iwatake.
Which Hakuba ski area gets the most snow? The northern ones, Cortina and Tsugaike Kogen, which take the brunt of the Sea of Japan systems.
When does the snow peak? February. From late January to early March every area in the valley should have a solid base.
Can I ski in spring? Happo-One and Tsugaike are high enough to ski into April and, some years, early May. The lower areas close during March.