Late March - early April in Northern Honshu

Hi all
We're planning another trip for Spring 2018, and we're looking into the idea of spending the second week of April in Northern Honshu.

From looking at historical weather records, I can see that this is typically a time when things are changing from sub-zero temperatures at night, and possible snow & ice, to milder temperatures in the mid-teens (centigrade).

Of course, we can take warm clothes; that's not a problem. My main query is about whether there is much open for tourists at this time of year. Ski season in the mountains is over, but perhaps the Spring/Summer season hasn't really started?

If someone said to you that they were thinking of visiting Akita or Yamagata (e.g. Zao Onsen, Nyuto Onsen) in the second week of April, would you think "Ooh, lovely", or "Hmm, that's not really the time of year I'd choose to go there"

For instance, if we went to Zao then one of the attractions would be to go to the dai-rotemburo, but I see that this is closed until "mid-April". Would that mean it was closed in the week ending April 15th?

Also, for instance, if we wanted to drive around the various onsens in the Nyuto area, would we expect it to be difficult driving conditions (we've driven in Japan before, I'm more concerned about snow/ice)?

If anyone could help with my queries, I'd be very grateful. Thanks a lot.

Though I am not familiar with this region, the weather in April is not so bad.

http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_10d.php?prec_no=...

This is for Yamagata city close to Zao. Note that “ú�ÆŽžŠÔ (daily sunshine time?) for mid April is 54.2 hrs which is much longer than winter period. Besides Zao and Nyuto, you may consider visiting Hakkoda where there is a "snow walk" like the Alpine route.

http://hirotravel.com/hakkouda/page_thumb20.html

Though it is lower than that in the Alpine route, but the bright side is you can drive by yourself. You will need winter driving techniques and snow tires though. Cherry blossoms are too early for northern Tokoku, but there are some good places in southern Tohoku. I don't say it is the best season, but probably it is good enough. Enjoy your trip!

Thanks, Frog. That snow corridor (with a mixed onsen at one end of it) looks amazing!

The weather info you linked to is consistent with what I've seen for other places in the region: i.e. there may still be some snow on the ground; temperatures may be fairly low, and it's typically a month where there's a big change from beginning of the month to end of the month.

If anyone else has any info about what it's like in Northern Honshu in April, for example:
- whether visitor sites are open or closed
- whether roads are closed/difficult to drive on
- whether there are any specific things that happen at that time of year that we should look into, etc.

I'd really appreciate hearing from you.
Thanks again....

Please take this with a grain of salt...

I went through parts of Tohoku in April 2009. We left Morioka on April 23 to drive to Kakunodate, then drove to Towada City. We then visited "Jesus' Grave" went near Towada Lake and down to Oyu onsen. Our last day we drove to Lake Towada and Hirosaki before returning the car to Morioka. Over the next few days I took the train/bus to Sakata, Tsuroka/Haguro-san, and then went to Zao onsen and through Yonezawa and back to Tokyo. It was either peak or close to peak for blossoms in Kakunodate and Hirosaki. Some of the roads near Lake Towada were newly opened and we did get caught in an actual blizzard up near the lake.

Thanks rkold,
That's really helpful.
I was wondering whether we might encounter closed (or very snowy) roads.
We'd be there a week or two before you were, and from what I can see that would mean more snow/colder weather.
Has anyone been to Nyuto in mid-April, and can give me some info on how easy it was to get around?

I was wondering whether we might encounter closed (or very snowy) roads.

Zao Echo line and Zao Highline will be closed until the end of April so you can't visit Okama crater. Road to Zao Onsen from Yamagata city will be OK. I don't know about the road to Nyuto Onsen, but some hotels in that area accept reservation for these period I think the road should be open. However you might better prepare for the snowy or icy road.

Glad I could give some input.

Again, this was '09 and I've only done this trip once... By when I went to Zao, the famous dai rotemboro was open and I don't remember there being a lot of snow anywhere on the ground there. Haguro-san had a few patches of super dirty really old looking snow (like the remains of the last big piles, we get that here too.) I've never been to Nyuto onsen, but our snow was all near Lake Towada and the rim roads going towards the lake from Shingo. (though lots of the mountains were still covered in snow, but we weren't going hiking. ) I don't remember seeing any snow along the drive from Morioka to Kakunodate excepting on the top of Mt. Iwate. Presumably we used 46 since that seems like the most direct route between the two and I remember coming back we were in a rush because we were tired and trying to get to Towada City.

Thanks very much, both of you. Really appreciate it.