Sapporo had 1,953,468 registered residents on 1 September 2026 and receives 479 cm of snowfall in an average year. Those two numbers, from the city’s own resident register and from the Japan Meteorological Agency’s 1991 to 2020 normals, set the frame for a winter visit: a city of nearly two million people where the normals record snow falling on 134.5 days a year, and which holds its winter festival in the month when the normal snow cover is at its deepest.
The 2027 Snow Festival runs eight days, and a linked event opens the day after it closes
The Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee announced the outline of the 77th festival on 13 July 2026. The 2027 festival runs from Thursday 4 February to Thursday 11 February 2027, which the committee states as eight days, at three sites: the Odori site, covering West 1 through West 11; the Tsudome site at the Sapporo City sports exchange facility of that name; and the Susukino site, on Ekimae-dori between Minami 4 and Minami 6.
A linked event sits immediately after it. Sapporo Snow Sports Park 2027, at the Daiwa House Premist Dome, runs from Friday 12 February to Sunday 14 February 2027, three days, starting the day after the three main sites close. Anyone booking accommodation around the festival should note that the busy period does not end on the 11th.
Eleven blocks at Odori, and five of them hold the large sculptures
The committee describes the Odori site as centred on five large snow sculptures, with medium and small sculptures and winter attractions around them, and prints the planned content block by block. Counting the blocks in that table gives eleven, and counting the ones marked for a large sculpture gives five, which matches the figure in the committee’s own sentence.
| Odori block | Planned content for 2027 |
|---|---|
| West 1 | Winter attractions and similar |
| West 2 | Sapporo International Art Festival 2027 |
| West 3 | Small snow sculptures and similar |
| West 4 | Large snow sculpture |
| West 5 | Large snow sculpture |
| West 6 | Medium and small snow sculptures and similar |
| West 7 | Large snow sculpture |
| West 8 | Large snow sculpture |
| West 9 | Medium and small snow sculptures and similar |
| West 10 | Large snow sculpture |
| West 11 | International snow sculpture contest and similar |
The pattern is not a run of large sculptures in a row. They sit at West 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10, with the art festival, the small sculptures and the international contest filling the blocks between them, so a walk from one end of the site to the other alternates between the two scales rather than building to one point.
January is colder, and February carries the deeper snow
The Japan Meteorological Agency’s normals for Sapporo cover 1991 to 2020, with 30 years of data behind every column on the table read here. January is the coldest month by mean temperature, at minus 3.2 degrees, with a mean daily maximum of minus 0.4 and a mean daily minimum of minus 6.4. The annual mean is 9.2 degrees, annual precipitation is 1,146.1 mm and annual sunshine is 1,718.0 hours.
Snow behaves differently from temperature. January receives the greatest depth of new snow, 137 cm, ahead of February’s 116 cm and December’s 113 cm, but the deepest snow lying on the ground in a normal February is 95 cm against January’s 76 cm, because February adds to what December and January left. Across the year the normals give 479 cm of snowfall, a deepest snow cover of 97 cm and 134.5 days on which snow falls out of the 365 in a year. The largest daily snowfall in the normals, 34 cm, appears in the annual row rather than in any month, and it is above every monthly figure, the largest of which is December’s 28 cm.
| Month | Snowfall depth total (cm) | Deepest snow cover (cm) | Mean temperature (degrees C) |
|---|---|---|---|
| December | 113 | 47 | -0.9 |
| January | 137 | 76 | -3.2 |
| February | 116 | 95 | -2.7 |
| March | 74 | 82 | 1.1 |
| Year | 479 | 97 | 9.2 |
The March column is the one that catches out a late trip: the mean temperature has turned positive, and the normal deepest cover is still 82 cm, higher than January’s. How the national records for cold and for snow are distributed across the island is a separate question, and it is set out in our piece on the records Hokkaido holds for cold and for snow.
The Clock Tower charges 350 yen and closes on three days of the year
Sapporo’s Clock Tower, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property and the former drill hall of Sapporo Agricultural College, publishes opening hours of 8:45 to 17:10, with admission until 17:00, and a closing period of 1 January to 3 January. That is three closed days in the calendar year, and the page prints no weekly closing day alongside them.
Admission is 350 yen for adults and 150 yen for university students on production of a student card. Elementary, junior high and high school pupils enter free, with junior high and high school pupils asked to show a student card. A group of 20 or more pays 300 yen a head. Holders of a disability certificate, a rehabilitation certificate or a mental health welfare certificate enter free with one carer, or two carers for a wheelchair user, and the Mirairo ID certificate app is accepted in place of the paper book. The same page sets out a further reduction and exemption scheme, for teachers escorting pupils and for tour conductors escorting a party, and that one is not granted at the door: the form has to be faxed in beforehand, and the page carries one form for escorting teachers and one for travel companies and welfare institutions. The building and the former Hokkaido Government Office also run a reciprocal discount for anyone admitted to either. Credit cards, transport IC cards and QR code payment are accepted, with some exclusions.
Two dates change the rules. On the first Monday of each month, or the following day when that Monday is a public holiday, the building stays open until 20:00 instead of 17:10, and the piano is opened to visitors between 17:10 and 20:00 on application at reception; the site names 5 October 2026 as the next such evening. On the 16th of every month, residents of Sapporo enter free on showing proof of their address, and the building states that it will be 148 years old on 16 October 2026. A winding demonstration of the tower clock is held once a day at 10:30 on announced dates.
The building also publishes what it does not have. There is no car park. There is no cooling equipment, and the interior can pass 30 degrees in the July to September period; heating exists in winter but the site states plainly that the rooms do not reach a comfortable temperature, and asks visitors to dress warmly. The lavatories are in a separate building on the east side of the ground floor, past a connecting corridor, and the site states that reaching them means going outside for a short distance.
Ten wards, and the central one is not the largest
The city’s resident register for 1 September 2026 gives 1,953,468 people in 1,129,768 households across ten wards. Kita ward holds 282,946 of them and Higashi 260,750, both ahead of Chuo, the central ward that holds the city hall, at 246,763. The smallest is Kiyota at 107,512. Adding the ten ward figures gives exactly the city total, which is a check to run whenever a city publishes both; that addition is mine. A reader who looks at the city’s front page instead will find a different pair for the same date, 1,961,890 people and 1,003,116 households on 1 September 2026, sitting in a statistics box that does not say which count it is, so the two are not figures to set against each other.
The register also shows the direction of travel. On 1 January 2026 the same table recorded 1,954,588 residents, so the city was 1,120 people smaller eight months later, a subtraction of the two printed figures rather than a published change. The city notes that the register has included foreign residents since August 2012, following the 2012 amendment to the Basic Resident Registration Act, so the totals are of everyone registered rather than of Japanese nationals alone.
Two telephone numbers are printed across the city’s own pages and are the short way to settle a question that the web pages do not answer. The Sapporo City Call Center, on 011-222-4894, is open every day of the year from 8:00 to 21:00 and handles questions about city systems, procedures, facilities and transport. The Clock Tower takes calls on 011-231-0838 between 8:45 and 17:10 on days it is open. City hall itself works 8:45 to 17:15 and is closed at weekends, on public holidays and from 29 December to 3 January.
What to check again before travelling
The festival dates are fixed for 2027 and will be replaced when the committee announces the 78th festival; the 2027 outline was published on 13 July 2026. The Clock Tower’s evening opening moves with the first Monday of each month, so the October date given here applies to one evening only. The normals will be restated when the Meteorological Agency next updates its 30-year period, and the resident figures are updated monthly, with the city stating that the next update is due in mid-October 2026. Every figure here was read on the city’s, the committee’s or the agency’s own pages in September 2026.
Sources Checked
Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee — outline of the 2027 (77th) festival, published 13 July 2026
Confirmed the name, the dates of 4 to 11 February 2027 described as eight days, the three sites of Odori (West 1 to West 11), Tsudome and Susukino (Ekimae-dori between Minami 4 and Minami 6), the linked Sapporo Snow Sports Park 2027 at the Daiwa House Premist Dome from 12 to 14 February 2027 described as three days, the statement that the Odori site is centred on five large snow sculptures, and the block-by-block table of planned content for West 1 to West 11.
https://www.snowfes.com/news/948.html
Sapporo Snow Festival Executive Committee — result of the 2026 (76th) festival and next dates
Confirmed that the 2026 festival closed on 11 February 2026 and that the next dates for the Odori, Tsudome and Susukino sites were given as 4 to 11 February 2027, eight days.
https://www.snowfes.com/news/946.html
Japan Meteorological Agency — climate normals for Sapporo, 1991 to 2020
Confirmed the statistical period of 1991 to 2020 with 30 years of data, the January mean of minus 3.2 degrees with a mean daily maximum of minus 0.4 and minimum of minus 6.4, the annual mean of 9.2 degrees, annual precipitation of 1,146.1 mm, annual sunshine of 1,718.0 hours, monthly snowfall depth totals of 113 cm in December, 137 cm in January, 116 cm in February and 74 cm in March, deepest snow cover of 47, 76, 95 and 82 cm in those months, the annual snowfall total of 479 cm, the annual deepest snow cover of 97 cm, the largest daily snowfall of 34 cm, and 134.5 days with snow.
https://www.data.jma.go.jp/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=14&block_no=47412
Sapporo Clock Tower — admission information
Confirmed the opening hours of 8:45 to 17:10 with admission until 17:00, the closure from 1 to 3 January, the admission charges of 350 yen for adults, 150 yen for university students, free for elementary, junior high and high school pupils and 300 yen for groups of 20 or more, the free admission for certificate holders with one carer or two for a wheelchair user, the acceptance of the Mirairo ID app, the separate reduction and exemption scheme for escorting teachers and for tour conductors with its two advance fax application forms, the reciprocal discount with the former Hokkaido Government Office, the acceptance of cashless payment, the absence of a car park, the absence of cooling equipment with interior temperatures above 30 degrees in midsummer, the statement about heating in midwinter, and the separate lavatory building reached past a connecting corridor.
https://sapporoshi-tokeidai.jp/inspect/guide.php
Sapporo Clock Tower — notices page
Confirmed the first-Monday evening opening to 20:00 with the piano open to the public between 17:10 and 20:00 on application at reception and the next date of 5 October 2026, the free admission for Sapporo residents on the 16th of each month on production of proof of address, the statement that the building will be 148 years old on 16 October 2026, the once-daily clock winding demonstration at 10:30, and the telephone number 011-231-0838 with call hours of 8:45 to 17:10 excluding closed days.
https://sapporoshi-tokeidai.jp/
City of Sapporo — resident register population, monthly table for 2026
Confirmed the total of 1,953,468 residents in 1,129,768 households on 1 September 2026, the ward figures of Chuo 246,763, Kita 282,946, Higashi 260,750, Shiroishi 214,615, Atsubetsu 121,765, Toyohira 229,502, Kiyota 107,512, Minami 131,814, Nishi 219,422 and Teine 138,379, the 1 January 2026 total of 1,954,588, the statement that foreign residents have been included since August 2012 under the amended Basic Resident Registration Act, and the note that the next update is due in mid-October 2026.
https://www.city.sapporo.jp/toukei/jinko/juuki/juuki.html
City of Sapporo — official site, standing page footer
Confirmed the Sapporo City Call Center number 011-222-4894 open every day from 8:00 to 21:00, the city hall working hours of 8:45 to 17:15 with closure at weekends, on public holidays and from 29 December to 3 January, and the statistics box giving 1,961,890 people and 1,003,116 households as at 1 September 2026 without naming the count.
https://www.city.sapporo.jp/
Last updated: September 2026
