WEATHER STILL UNCERTAIN FOR NAGANO, 1997-12-30 (photo)

Skiers and snow boarders spend time in Hakuba, a mountain resort 50km west of Nagano, central Japan December 29, where some of the Winter Olympic events are to be staged in 1998. Mountains around Nagano got a sprinkling of snow over the last several days, but not enough to ease concerns about the weather for the February 7-22 Olympics, a forecaster said on December 30. All of the ski hills in Hakuba, where many of the Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and ski jumping events will take place during the Olympics, have had to use snow-making machines to cover parts of the mountains enough so that skiers can use them. SPORT OLYMPICS WEATHER