Погода: Саппоро, февраль

February is Niseko at its deepest and its most difficult at the same time. January and early February are the months regulars name for snow and the base by then is enormous - but the weather that delivers it brings blizzards perhaps half the time, arctic cold and poor visibility, which closes the upper lifts and can leave fresh powder tracked out an hour or two after opening. Low-light lenses are standard advice. The end of February adds Chinese New Year, the peak of the peak: lift queues from about fifteen minutes, room rates at their highest, and Hirafu restaurants wanting four days to a week's notice. The record: -0.3C days that feel like -5C, -9.3C nights, 55.4cm of snow, 13.2 precipitation days and 8.1 hours of sun.

Regulars are specific that late in this month sits in a genuine lull - autumn colors from early-to-mid October already fading, while the city's famous snow hasn't yet arrived, making late October a quieter, less dramatic stretch for anyone timing a visit around either spectacle. Our row backs that cool, genuinely wet read, 16.2C over 7.7C nights feeling 5C, with 109mm of rain across 14.4 days and a first trace of early snow, 5.2cm. Regulars are consistent early-to-mid October remains the better window specifically for fall foliage, with temperatures then still comfortable in the 10-15C range for walking. A warm layer over a waterproof shell covers most of what the month can bring regardless of which week is chosen. The sea sits at 18.5C. The record: humidity 78 percent, 7.9 hours of sun, a 15.2 kph wind and AQI 37.

April here runs weeks behind mainland Japan and the board says so twice over. The blossom peaks around the end of the month rather than the start, so a trip timed to Honshu's cherry season arrives here far too early. And winter has not finished: regulars report fresh snow falling in late April, twenty centimetres at a stroke, which our column backs at 22.9cm across the month. The row reads 12.8C by day but only 10C to stand in, over 4C nights that feel like 1C in a 16.2 kph wind, with 81.3mm of precipitation across 12.1 days. A coat, and gloves in the evening if you feel the cold. The record: humidity 76 percent, 9.7 hours of sun and AQI 53.

Hokkaido is where people go to escape the Japanese summer and regulars are honest about how much escaping it does: less hot and less muggy than Tokyo or Kyoto, but 20 to 30C with real humidity, and days above 30C do happen this far north. Our row agrees - 26.4C reading as 30C at 86 percent. What July adds is a calendar. The Sapporo Summer Festival runs from the middle of the month to the middle of August, fireworks fall on set July dates, the lavender is out until late July and the sunflowers start as it ends, so a late-July visit catches both. Rain is real at 129.7mm across 12.7 days. The record: 18.8C nights, 9.9 hours of sun inside 15 of daylight.

May is when Hokkaido finally turns: the snow has gone from the towns, the weather is getting drier and sunnier, and the cherry blossom reaches Sapporo about a week after Hakodate, over Golden Week, with Maruyama Park the busy spot. Late May is the part regulars describe as lovely, with spring flowers everywhere. What they warn about is the temperature, which is still well below the rest of Japan - around 10C on their reckoning, and below that at night - against our row's 18.8C days and 9.5C nights, with 0.8cm of snow still inside the monthly normal. Eastern Hokkaido is cooler again. The record: 12 precipitation days carrying 87.9mm, 10.2 hours of sun and an 11.4C sea.