Start with overnight snowfall and wind direction. The headline number only helps once you know whether a cold front pushing across the divide is the pattern to watch. With a 1200 to 1450 metre elevation band and 250 metres of vertical, the sheltered trees make modest reloads feel deeper than the raw number. A seasonal baseline around 9 metres means small clean refills matter more than waiting for a giant number. The swing variable is wind: light flow lets the trees refill, while a hard blast strips the exposed entrances. If you are looking beyond the ropes, only chase that angle when the forecast also shows settled wind and stable visibility. Chase it when 10 to 20 cm lands overnight with light to moderate wind; if gusts climb, make it a sheltered-tree day.
See which resorts in Gunma are getting the best 24 hour totals and the next two days of snow.
