SEOUL: The season’s strongest cold wave peaked on Friday morning, bringing down morning lows to below minus 20 C in some Gangwon Province areas, causing traffic and daily life disruptions nationwide and blanketing the southern resort island of Jeju and western coast with heavy snow.
The mercury plummeted to minus 14.7 C in Seoul as of 7:32 a.m., and many other regions recorded far lower minimum temperatures than the capital, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). Hwacheon of Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, registered minus 21.5 C, followed by minus 19.2 C in Seocheon of the central province of South Chungcheong, and minus 19 C in Paju, just north of Seoul, the agency noted.
Strong winds with instantaneous speeds of over 55 kph, or 15 mps, reinforced the feeling of cold in most regions. A heavy snow advisory was in effect for Jeju, western coastal areas of South Chungcheong and the southwestern provinces of Jeolla as of 8 a.m.
On Jeju Island, which received more than 30.2 centimeters of snow over the past day, Jeju International Airport completely suspended its runway operations for more than seven hours. A total of 286 domestic and international flights were canceled due to the snow-covered airport from 8:20 a.m. The airport had finished clearing the runway of snow as of 4 p.m. and resumed flight operations.
