There is a lot of talk so far this season about how it compares to past winters. There are surprising number of complaints that this must be a low snow year, because there are bushes that remain uncovered, and rivers unburied.
I am here to inform you that this is not the case. In fact, we are in the midst of one of the better snow years that Hakuba has seen recently.
So far, the valley has received 791cm (312 inches) of snow, and the base is 3m (118 inches) deep.ย
*All data used in this post is courtesy of Damian Banwell andย Steep Deep Japan.ย For more information on the snow plot where data was collected, follow the link above.
In comparison, at this date last season, we had received just under 5m of snow, and our base depth was about 170cm. And we all reminisce about last January like it was the most snow we have ever seen.
So, why is it that it feels like snow fall and base depth is a bit below average this season? It has to do with how the snow has fallen this season.
In order to really bury the bushes around here, we need to have large, rapid single snow falls. Smaller snow falls have time to shed off of trees and settle a little, while larger ones stick to branches and bury them.
This January, we did not receive a single 24 hour snow fall of 50cm or more. Last January, we received 24 hour snow falls greater 50cm seven times.
- Snow, sticking to everything.
Ok, so our small, incremental snow falls this season have not buried bushes to the extent that they were buried last year. But, the way the snow has been falling this year has been great for building a stable, consistent, layer-less base. Unfortunately, that has been spoiled of late by a few crust layers, but it is always nice to know that things are rock solid down deep. (If you’ve skied somewhere with depth hoar issues, you can really appreciate this)
So, stop complaining, and appreciate that 2 meters more snow has fallen, and we have a 1 meter deeper base than last season!
All data used in this post is courtesy of Damian Banwell and Steep Deep Japan. For more information on the snow plot where data was collected, follow the link above.