You can feel the change starting to roll over the mountains in Nozawa. Have had a few foggy days about town and always pretty to see the clouds sitting in the Valley.
This photo is taken from Villa Nozawa and won’t be long now until the scenery takes on a snowy change!
Quite a lot of rain in Nozawa at the moment too which has cooled things down and find you need a long sleeve in the nights now, which is kind of nice.
Most locals are talking about good snowfall this year. Mainly because last year was a bit light on and was a 1 in 50 year like situation so this year Nozawa should be back to its very snowy self.
We also have an insect, which lives in the trees around the village called Kamakiri, and the locals say that when they build their nests for winter higher in the trees it means a big snow season ahead, as they want to be higher than the snow line. This year they are 1 meter higher than normal but will have to wait and see!
If want to check out what conditions you can maybe expect for each of the winter months in Nozawa can have a look at this link Snow Conditions Nozawa Onsen
Every month is winter in Nozawa is a good month and they all have a little different feel about them.
- December is the time of anticipation with the change in the village as the snow starts to fall an the excitement builds. We generally have decent skiing by mid December sometimes earlier
- January is when we get the highest snow fall generally and it feels like it is not going to stop sometimes. It is also the most popular month for overseas guests by far. With the Fire Festival and school holidays
- February just continues on from January and the snow just keeps piling up, more hard core skiers and boarders in town and less families. Conditions can be deep
- March is my personal favourite, we have all the base, usually more than 400cm, some nice days, very few people and still get some nice dumps of snow.
- April is officially spring skiing, with a definite change the lift pass prices drop and some of the lower lifts close, there is still some fun conditions to be had for sure and great ski touring conditions
- May only goes for the first week to coincide with the Golden Week holiday. It is T shirt weather but lots of fun in the village. Hope this helps and to see you up in Nozawa soon