Palcall Tsumagoi Resort Snow Report

パルコール嬬恋スキーリゾート

Palcall Tsumagoi Resort averages 611 cm of snowfall a season and peaks at 130 cm of settled base, measured across 26 seasons of Japan Meteorological Agency records. That works out to roughly 5 powder days a season — days when at least 20 cm fell. The charts below break that down by month and by season, alongside the ENSO pattern each season fell under.

Weather Data Source

Snow depth and temperature data from the nearest JMA AMeDAS station.

12 km from resort · Resort base 117 m higher than station

Quickly judge whether this resort fits your trip. See how snowy it gets on average, how long the season runs, and whether powder days are rare or common here.

611 cm Avg Season Total Snowfall
130 cm Peak Snow Depth
Oct 1 – Feb 18 Typical Season
5 d Avg Powder Days / Season
26 % Snow Day %
5 d Avg Snow Streak
35 d Avg Dry Gap

7-Day Forecast

Decide if this week is worth a trip. Check the snowfall column first: fresh snow in the next day or two is the clearest sign of good conditions.

RainToday
15°12°
DETAILS
Feels like16°
Humidity97%
Wind7 km/h
Vis.0.3 km
RainWed 9/9
15°
DETAILS
Feels like15°
Humidity97%
Wind12 km/h
Vis.0.5 km
RainThu 9/10
12°
DETAILS
Feels like10°
Humidity92%
Wind10 km/h
Vis.0.1 km
RainFri 9/11
14°
DETAILS
Feels like15°
Humidity99%
Wind10 km/h
Vis.0.2 km
StormSat 9/12
16°11°
DETAILS
Feels like16°
Humidity96%
Wind7 km/h
Vis.0.1 km
RainSun 9/13
19°11°
DETAILS
Feels like20°
Humidity93%
Wind6 km/h
Vis.0.1 km
RainMon 9/14
17°11°
DETAILS
Feels like19°
Humidity90%
Wind4 km/h
Vis.0.1 km

2025-26 Season Recap

Snow depth vs. historical avg
Last season peaked below normal

11th deepest of 12 seasons

Peak 110cm · avg 144cm

Powder Days

Find the month most likely to deliver powder. Higher numbers mean better odds. Each cell counts powder days — days with snowfall over your chosen threshold. Turn on the quality filter to keep only the cold, dry days.

Snow
Temp
Humidity
2025-262024-252023-242022-232021-222020-212019-202018-192017-182016-172015-162014-152013-142012-132011-122010-112009-102008-092007-082006-072005-062004-052003-042002-032001-022000-011999-00 Avg
Nov 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.1
Dec 4 1 0 1 4 5 1 1 2 2 0 3 2 2 1 2 3 0 1 0 5 3 4 2 1 1 1.9
Jan 2 1 3 5 5 2 1 7 6 6 2 3 1 5 4 4 3 3 1 2 4 7 0 5 3 4 0 3.3
Feb 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 6 1 5 0 3 0 2 1 1 0 4 2.1
Mar 0 2 4 1 2 1 3 3 2 0 2 3 2 0 3 3 4 1 0 1 2 2 0 1 0 5 2 1.9
Apr 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0.1

Snowfall Consistency

Avoid booking during historically dry spells. Scan the grid to spot weeks that tend to go without snow, then plan your trip around the more reliable windows.

Snow day Dry day No data
28% Snow days · 6d Best streak · 35d Worst gap avg · 26 seasons
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
2025-26
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
2021-22
2020-21
2019-20
2018-19
2017-18
2016-17
2015-16
2014-15
2013-14
2012-13
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2008-09
2007-08
2006-07
2005-06
2004-05
2003-04
2002-03
2001-02
2000-01
1999-00

Sky conditions, winter by winter

One mark per day from December 1 to March 31, one row per winter. Read across for a season, down a column for the same date in different years.

11 clear days How much of a typical winter here is actually clear, and when those days fall.

Clear Partly Cloudy Overcast Snow Not recorded
Dec Jan Feb Mar
2025-26
2024-25
2023-24
2022-23
2021-22

Select a day to read its date and sky.

Showing the 5 most recent winters of 27.

The typical winter

How the chance of a Snow day moves through the season, by half-month, across every winter the archive holds.

2% Dec
1–15
6% Dec
16+
4% Jan
1–15
8% Jan
16+
8% Feb
1–15
7% Feb
16+
10% Mar
1–15
7% Mar
16+

A Snow day is most likely in Mar 1–15 — the stretch the grid above opens on.

A winter here means December 1 to March 31. A day is Clear at or below 30% modelled cloud cover, Partly Cloudy from 31 to 79%, and Overcast at 80% and above. A day carrying 5 cm or more of falling snow is Snow before any cloud value is read. Cloud cover comes from the ERA5 reanalysis archive for this resort’s weather cell. The check comes from hours of sunshine measured at the nearest reporting station, which sits lower down the valley. Checked against sunshine measured at Sugadaira. The same station validates Shiga Kogen Yakebitaiyama. How closely the modelled cloud tracks the station’s measured sunshine, over the 3,243 winter days both sources hold a value for. Below the cut, the figure is stated as a range instead of a count. The classification describes sky cover over the resort’s weather cell, not visibility measured on the hill. A resort can sit in cloud at altitude on a day its cell reads clear.

Powder Quality

Know whether the snow here is worth chasing. Colder Hokkaido resorts produce lighter, drier powder that floats and turns differently than the wet, heavy snow found further south.

Classic Japow 16:1 Snow-to-liquid ratio

Colder snowfall temperatures produce larger ice crystals with more trapped air — lighter, drier powder.

Through the season · ~25-yr typical

Powder peaks in early January and holds strong into early April, before spring warms it to heavy snow by late April.

Peak · Early Jan
Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
line = snow quality (higher = lighter, drier) lighter / drierwetter / heavier

Quality steps down — Early Apr: Good Powder · Late Apr: Heavy Snow

Rain Risk

Avoid months when rain is likely to strip the snowpack. Even one warm rain event can destroy days of accumulated powder, so knowing the risk by month helps you book smarter.

10 Warm rain events per season avg
50% of precipitation days include rain

Percentage of precipitation days where rain falls instead of snow. Warm rain events (>5mm rain, temp >0°C) can destroy the snowpack.

Nov
81% 3 warm rain
Dec
37% 0.5 warm rain
Jan
15%
Feb
29% 0.3 warm rain
Mar
58% 1.2 warm rain
Apr
88% 4.9 warm rain
ENSO impact
La Niña 48% 9.2 warm rain/season (11 seasons)
Neutral 50% 9.4 warm rain/season (7 seasons)
El Niño 52% 11.4 warm rain/season (9 seasons)

Snow & Weather

Track whether this season is shaping up above or below average. Browse past seasons to spot trends, useful for timing a last-minute trip or understanding a resort's range.

Winter (Dec–Feb) Neutral
Pre-season (Sep–Nov) La Niña

Snow Depth

Snow data

Source: resort report · PalCall Tsumagoi

Daily Snowfall

Source: JMA AMeDAS

Temperature

Source: ERA5 reanalysis at 1735m (resort level)

Wind Speed

Source: JMA AMeDAS

Snow by ENSO Phase

Snowfall in each phase

La Niña 11
Neutral 7
El Niño 9
  • driest to snowiest winter
  • average
  • the driest quarter of its winters

At Palcall Tsumagoi Resort, seasonal snowfall in the good winters and the bad ones alike moves little with the ENSO phase.

Powder Reliability Leaderboard

The score tells you how reliably this resort delivers powder, not just in a great season but across many seasons. It combines four factors measured from historical data: how often powder days actually happen, how consistently the snowpack builds and holds depth, how dry and light the snow tends to be, and how often wind ruins powder days. A high score means your chances of hitting good snow are strong across a typical trip, not only during lucky windows.

View full leaderboard

Overall 28
Powder Days
15
Base
8
Snow Quality
81
Conditions
23
How scores are calculated
Powder Days 45%

average powder days per season, where a powder day has ≥ 20 cm of new snow from either the weather station OR the resort's own day-over-day depth gain (whichever catches it). Normalised to a per-window ceiling (20 days in peak season, 30 over the whole season).

Base 28%

how consistently the resort holds a deep base. For each season, the share of reported days (Dec 15 – Mar 31) with ≥ 150 cm of resort-reported on-mountain depth scores on a smooth scale — from 0 at ≤ 40% of days deep to full credit at ≥ 55% — then averaged across seasons. Adapted from Witmer 1986 / Abegg 1996; uses on-mountain depth, not the valley station.

Snow Quality 22%

fraction of snowfall days where ERA5 daily mean temperature ≤ −5°C at resort elevation, a proxy for dry, high snow-to-liquid-ratio powder (Kuchera & Ely 2004). ERA5 temperature is lapse-rate corrected to each resort's mid-point elevation. Surface temperature is an approximation of the full vertical profile.

Conditions 5%

fraction of powder days calmer than the resort's own typical winter wind (below its 75th-percentile ERA5 wind). A relative anchor is used because absolute ERA5 grid wind reflects the model's 9 km terrain cell, not on-slope sheltering. Weighted low and best read as a hint, not a ranking factor.