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North America Weekly Snow Roundup #297
Weekly Snow News for North America, updated 15 January 2026: California nears full opening after seven-foot storms, while Rockies and Northeast enjoy long-awaited midwinter snow.
View forecast
Whakapapa at 1625 m altitude
Issued by Snow-Forecast.com at: 6 pm (local time) / 18 Jan 2026
Now
Sun 18 | Monday 19 | Tuesday 20 | Wednesday 21 | Thursday 22 | Friday 23 | ||||||||||||
PM | night | AM | PM | night | AM | PM | night | AM | PM | night | AM | PM | night | AM | PM | night | |
 |  |  | |  | | |  |  | | |  | |  | |  |  | |
light rain | cloudy | cloudy | cloudy | light rain | light rain | cloudy | some clouds | some clouds | cloudy | light rain | heavy rain | light rain | heavy rain | light rain | mod. rain | mod. rain | |
km/h | |||||||||||||||||
Snow map |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||
— | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
1 | — | — | — | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 7 | |
max °C | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
min °C | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
-1 | -1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |
91 | 92 | 92 | 89 | 92 | 93 | 96 | 80 | 64 | 49 | 42 | 89 | 92 | 99 | 87 | 97 | 88 | |
2750 | 2800 | 2850 | 3300 | 3350 | 3300 | 3300 | 3250 | 3600 | 3300 | 4000 | 4700 | 4800 | 4450 | 3900 | 3050 | 3100 | |
 | — | — | 6:11 | — | — | 6:13 | — | — | 6:13 | — | — | 6:15 | — | — | 6:16 | — | — |
 | 8:44 | — | — | 8:43 | — | — | 8:43 | — | — | 8:42 | — | — | 8:42 | — | — | 8:40 | — |
Next 0-3 days weather summary:
Light rain (total 6.0mm), mostly falling on Sun afternoon. Very mild (max 14°C on Wed morning, min 4°C on Sun afternoon). Wind will be generally light.
Next 4-6 days weather summary:
Heavy rain (total 46.0mm), heaviest during Thu morning. Very mild (max 13°C on Wed afternoon, min 5°C on Fri night). Winds increasing (light winds from the NE on Wed afternoon, near gales from the ENE by Thu morning).
Popular Whakapapa Pages
Snow Radar
Latest snow reports near Whakapapa:
Whakapapa Snow Conditions
| Top snow depth: | 0 cm |
|---|---|
| Bottom snow depth: | 0 cm |
| Fresh snowfall depth: | — |
| Last snowfall: | 17 Dec 2025 |
| Snow Alerts | Create Alert |
Other resorts in New Zealand are reporting: powder (0) / good piste (0)
Snow History
Week 3 of January has on average:
0.0 | Bluebird Powder days Fresh snow, mostly sunny, light wind. |
|---|---|
0.0 | Powder days Fresh snow, limited sun, any wind. |
0.0 | Bluebird days Average snow, mostly sunny, light wind. |
Whakapapa Forecast Snowfall
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Photos of Whakapapa
Whakapapa Sunset by Sarah Milicich
Turoa
Meads Wall Vista by Jenny Muir
Upload new photo Other resorts in New Zealand are reporting: powder (0) / good piste (0)
The above table gives the weather forecast for Whakapapa at the specific elevation of 1625 m. Our sophisticated weather models allow us to provide snow forecasts for the top, middle and bottom ski stations of Whakapapa. To access the weather forecasts for the other elevations, use the tab navigation above the table. For a wider view of the weather, check out the Weather Map of New Zealand.
Click here to read further information on freezing levels and how we forecast our temperatures.
Visitor Reviews of Whakapapa
Overall 3.3 Based on 42 votes and 59 reviews
- Snowsure
- Variety of pistes
- Vote
- Barry M from New Zealand writes:
Just an appalling badly managed business and facilities. Used to visit Whakapapa regularly in early 2000s. Wow, has it changed for the worst. Incredibly obnoxious and rude staff, filthy and dirty overcrowed facilities. Endless queues for everything from toilets through to hiring, booking. Everything is booked online but they don't staff the facilities with enough staff to cope with the masses. Tiny eateries with huge queues to access food. Happy Valley endless queues for ski gear hire, the line never got shorter in 4 hours we were there. So we decided to take kids onto Happy Valley with the snow passes we had already pre purchased. An hour after being on area up side away from any skiers or snowboarders a very angry and rude staff member aggressively and rudely ordered us and some others to get off the field and go play in the carpark area. She yelled at us, this area is only for skiing and snowboarding. I complained that there was no signage saying we had to ski or snowboard only. She got madder and threatened to trespass us if we didn't go immediately. So we packed up with kids and promptly left. The first day we tried to get up the mountain we drove and were turned away. They had closed the road due to all carparks bring full, open at 9am.... We arrived at 9:20am. Day 1 pass wasted as no shuttle bookings left and three disappointed children. Insufficient carpark facilities and these fill up with freedom sightseers who don't enter the facilities. Or only go to ride the over priced gondola as there is no parking management. Once carpark is full it's one down one up rule, creating huge vehicle queues three quarters of the way down the Bruce Road. This also prevents the private shuttle buses from getting to drop off points in a timely manner. On bad days they close the road completely and turn back everyone except the shuttles. As a result, legitimate customers whom have pre-purchased passes and gear are denied access to the mountain. Just a complete and utter fiasco. So we booked a shuttle $160 for the following day and managed to get on the mountain. Overall, it's not hard to see why the business is in liquidation. Just a poorly run setup. No communication, no signage, rude arrogant narcissistic staff. Hoards of people, dirty rundown facilities, nowhere near enough toilet facilities, bad and grossly over priced fast finger food: $12.50 for chips, $18 for wedges, $9.50 for pies and $8 for sausage roles. Insufficient dinning space, small and very cramped. People are crammed in shoulder to shoulder and kids get stood on and knocked over. So we ate outside. Fortunately a blue sky day with no wind. Terrible snow, I mean it's just groomed ice. Climate change has ruined the mountain. Only found good powder at 1900m or above. Most slopes are closed due to insufficient snow base. Best bring your ice skates as better suited to slopes than skis. My advice would be don't go. Save your money up and visit the South Island. Both Whakapapa and Turoa have been ruined by corporate greed, inept management and extreme overcrowding a with gross under investment in infrastructure poor staff training and hiring of people who have no personality of people skills. As the mountain is managed through multi government agencies Department of Conservation, Waka Kotahi and Ruapehu District Council, in conjunction with local Iwi, there's an environment of complete chaos where nothing changes and nothing improves. New Zealanders really can no longer access this mountain as rampant tourism and sightseeing has ruined it especially with introduction of the gondola ride. Honestly, Ruapehu Ski deserved to go bankrupt, good job too. Shame the government has decided to bail them out to the tune of 5 million. What a waste of tax payers money.
Visitor Reviews of Whakapapa
Barry M from New Zealand writes:
Just an appalling badly managed business and facilities. Used to visit Whakapapa regularly in early 2000s. Wow, has it changed for the worst. Incredibly obnoxious and rude staff, filthy and dirty overcrowed facilities. Endless queues for everything from toilets through to hiring, booking. Everything is booked online but they don't staff the facilities with enough staff to cope with the masses. Tiny eateries with huge queues to access food.
Happy Valley endless queues for ski gear hire, the line never got shorter in 4 hours we were there. So we decided to take kids onto Happy Valley with the snow passes we had already pre purchased. An hour after being on area up side away from any skiers or snowboarders a very angry and rude staff member aggressively and rudely ordered us and some others to get off the field and go play in the carpark area. She yelled at us, this area is only for skiing and snowboarding. I complained that there was no signage saying we had to ski or snowboard only. She got madder and threatened to trespass us if we didn't go immediately. So we packed up with kids and promptly left.
The first day we tried to get up the mountain we drove and were turned away. They had closed the road due to all carparks bring full, open at 9am.... We arrived at 9:20am. Day 1 pass wasted as no shuttle bookings left and three disappointed children. Insufficient carpark facilities and these fill up with freedom sightseers who don't enter the facilities. Or only go to ride the over priced gondola as there is no parking management. Once carpark is full it's one down one up rule, creating huge vehicle queues three quarters of the way down the Bruce Road. This also prevents the private shuttle buses from getting to drop off points in a timely manner. On bad days they close the road completely and turn back everyone except the shuttles.
As a result, legitimate customers whom have pre-purchased passes and gear are denied access to the mountain. Just a complete and utter fiasco.
So we booked a shuttle $160 for the following day and managed to get on the mountain.
Overall, it's not hard to see why the business is in liquidation. Just a poorly run setup. No communication, no signage, rude arrogant narcissistic staff. Hoards of people, dirty rundown facilities, nowhere near enough toilet facilities, bad and grossly over priced fast finger food: $12.50 for chips, $18 for wedges, $9.50 for pies and $8 for sausage roles.
Insufficient dinning space, small and very cramped. People are crammed in shoulder to shoulder and kids get stood on and knocked over. So we ate outside. Fortunately a blue sky day with no wind.
Terrible snow, I mean it's just groomed ice. Climate change has ruined the mountain. Only found good powder at 1900m or above. Most slopes are closed due to insufficient snow base. Best bring your ice skates as better suited to slopes than skis.
My advice would be don't go. Save your money up and visit the South Island. Both Whakapapa and Turoa have been ruined by corporate greed, inept management and extreme overcrowding a with gross under investment in infrastructure poor staff training and hiring of people who have no personality of people skills. As the mountain is managed through multi government agencies Department of Conservation, Waka Kotahi and Ruapehu District Council, in conjunction with local Iwi, there's an environment of complete chaos where nothing changes and nothing improves.
New Zealanders really can no longer access this mountain as rampant tourism and sightseeing has ruined it especially with introduction of the gondola ride.
Honestly, Ruapehu Ski deserved to go bankrupt, good job too. Shame the government has decided to bail them out to the tune of 5 million. What a waste of tax payers money.
Nearest