FOR once the weather forecasters were right. The early seasonal outlook for Hokkaido and most of Japan was low snowfall and above average temperatures.
We at Powderlife, and we guess many others in Niseko, chose to ignore these unimaginable predictions as we’re so often let down by the meteorological soothsayers. Well, for once they were spot on.
At the time of this magazine going to press, solid weekly dumps of snow were being followed up by warm temperatures, turning any precipitation into a day or two of rain and washing away any gains that had been made.
But fortunately, the New Year is upon us, and there is no better time to turn one’s fortunes than now.
The powder spells in between have been pretty amazing. And the rain will have aided in firming up the base for when the inevitable consistent snowfall arrives.
Even in a bad season in Niseko we get up towards 10m of snowfall and there are always periods of weeks on end when it snows every day. A season can turn on its head within the period of a week, and there’s a good chance that week is not too far away.