Snow shortage from warm weather hits ski resorts across Japan

TOKYO —

An unseasonably warm winter, which has been a trend in recent years, has again resulted in a dearth of snow at ski resorts across Japan, with many operators forced to run their facilities at below normal capacity or delay their opening.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says temperatures will soon return to seasonal levels in the middle of this week, especially in western Japan, with the effects of La Nina, a climate pattern expected to cool parts of the Pacific. But for now, resort operators cannot do much other than to keep their fingers crossed.

The agency said that in some areas of northern Japan, the average temperature has been more than 2 C higher than normal since Nov 15.

In Sukayu, Aomori Prefecture, known for its heavy snowfall, the snow accumulation as of Monday evening stood at 28 centimeters, about 33% of the level seen in the average year.

On the Mt Reisui ski slope in Yubari, Hokkaido, operators delayed the facility’s opening originally scheduled for Nov 27.

‘‘Snow keeps melting even if we keep operating the artificial snow machine,’’ said Yoshimitsu Sakai, its general manager. The resort is currently shuttling its customers to another slope which is partially open.

‘‘When the weather turns cold, we hope to open at least one course using artificial snow,’’ Sakai said.

The Hakuba Happo-one ski resort in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture, one of the sites for the Nagano Olympics, also delayed its opening originally scheduled for Dec 4.

The resort receives 10 to 20 inquiries a day about the state of the ski slope, operators said. They are pinning their hopes on the expected arrival of the cold air mass to open this weekend.

The Naeba ski resort in Niigata Prefecture, which usually has more than 1 million visitors, is still hopeful that the season will bring in 1.2 million customers. The resort managed to open Dec 4 with artificial snow by operating snow machine from a month ago. But for now, only four of its 23 ski lifts are in use.

The weather agency said some parts of Japan have had decent snowfall. In Daisen, Tottori Prefecture, the accumulation stood at 21 cm on Monday evening, slightly above the yearly average. The agency predicts that the arrival of the cold air mass should resolve the snow shortage woes.