Overview

Hokkaido has reached an almost mythical status for powder skiing. The northernmost island of Japan is now world famous for its light dry powder. However, snowfall is not plentiful everywhere on the island. Some places get more snow than others. After completing this learning activity, you should recognize what ski resorts on Hokkaido get the most snow and use this information to plan a ski vacation to the island.

Instructions

Utilize the information located in the Scenario and Key Concepts to answer the questions located in this activity. You may refer to your textbook and notes to help you work through the assigned questions if desired. You will have two attempts to complete this activity. The highest grade will automatically be recorded. Once you have submitted your activity for a second time, you will be able to see the correct answers. Discuss with your instructor if you have questions about your answers or feedback.

Activity is due Sunday, by 11:59 p.m. MT

Submission and Assessment Guidelines

You will complete the quiz associated with this scenario within Canvas. For help on how to take a quiz in Canvas, review How do I take a quiz.
This learning activity is worth 5 points toward your final grade.

Scenario

You are planning a vacation to Hokkaido, Japan to ski their world-famous powder. You want to ensure that you visit resorts where and when deep powder is most likely and thus are doing some research to see who "gets the goods."

Key Concepts

a. Hokkaido ski resorts and geography

Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan with the Sea of Japan to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Explore the geography and terrain of Hokkaido with Google Maps or even better, Google Earth.

You've decided to investigate the snow climate at the 10 largest ski resorts on Hokkaido as defined by Skiresort.info (Links to an external site.). These resorts and their base and top elevations are:

- Niseko United (Links to an external site.) (837-3,898 feet)
- Rusutsu (Links to an external site.) (1,312-3,261 feet)
- Furano (Links to an external site.) (804-3,524 feet)
- Kiroro (Links to an external site.) (1,706-3,871 feet)
- Sahoro (Links to an external site.) (1,345-3,380 feet)
- Hoshino (Links to an external site.) (1,706-4,064 feet)
- Mount Racey (Links to an external site.) (978-2,303 feet)
- Asarigawa Onsen (Links to an external site.) (460-2,303 feet)
- Hakodate Nanae (Links to an external site.) (856-3,117 feet)
- Pippu (Links to an external site.) (807-1,857 feet)

Maps illustrating the locations of these resorts (triangles) and Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) observing sites (circles) are in Figures 1, 2, and 3, with close-ups for the Niseko–Sapporo region and the Furano region. The resorts vary greatly in size, but when it's snowing hard, even a small resort can be fun.

Figure 1: Ski resorts (triangles) and selected Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) observing sites on Hokkaido.

Hillshade map of Niseko-Sapporo region with ski resort and Japanese Meteorological Agency climate stations annotated. Figure 2: Same as Figure 1 except a close up of the Niseko-Sapporo region.

Figure 3. Same as Figure 1 except a close up of the Furano region.

b. Climate Data

Long-term weather observations from mountain locations are sparse, so one needs to be a detective and use what's available. Annual and monthly average snowfall for the years 1991-2020 are available for seven Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) observing sites in the ski regions. These sites are plotted on the maps above (circles) and are listed with their elevations below. Click on each site to be directed to a Wikipedia page with climate information including average annual and monthly snowfall (inches in parentheses). Note that the data for Kutchan is for 1991–2020, whereas that presented in the book Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth is for 1981–2010. Use the updated 1991–2020 data to answer the questions in this scenario.

- Hakodate City (Links to an external site.) (115 feet)
- Kimobetsu (Links to an external site.) (866 feet)
- Kutchan (Links to an external site.) (577 feet)
- Otaru (Links to an external site.) (82 feet)
- Sapporo (Links to an external site.) (56 feet)
- Furano City (Links to an external site.) (571 feet)
- Asahikawa (Links to an external site.) (394 feet)

c. Snow-depth analyses

Although detailed average annual snowfall analyses are not available for Hokkaido, the Japanese Meteorology Agency (JMA) does provide detailed analyses for average maximum seasonal snow depth. Areas with large maximum seasonal snow depths generally receive the most snow, and areas with small seasonal snow depths generally receive less. Analyses of average maximum seasonal snow depth are provided in Figure 4 for Hokkaido, the Niseko-Sapporo region, and the Furano region, with the ski resorts (triangles) and JMA observing sites (circles), also plotted. [Right click on images and select "Save As" to save a larger, higher-resolution version to your device for later use.]

Figure 4. Average maximum seasonal snow depth (inches based on the color scale at upper left) in Hokkaido.

Figure 5. Same as Figure 4 except a close up of the Niseko–Sapporo Region.

Figure 6. Same as Figure 4 except a close up of the Furano Region.

Citations

Key Concepts

Images
- Figure 1: Ski resorts (triangles) and selected Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) observing sites on Hokkaido
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA
- Figure 2: Same as Figure 1 except a close up of the Niseko-Sapporo region
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA
- Figure 3. Same as Figure 1 except a close up of the Furano region
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA
- Figure 4. Average maximum seasonal snow depth (inches based on color scale at upper left) in Hokkaido
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA
- Figure 5. Same as Figure 4 except a close up of the Niseko–Sapporo region
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA
- Figure 6. Same as Figure 4 except a close up of the Furano Region
  - Citation: © 2014 Esri | Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, EPA