Rain, snow forecast for Lunar New Year holiday

Lunar New Year trips back home might be a bit inconvenient this year, as snow and rain are forecast to fall throughout the country during the upcoming holiday period.

Snow fell heavily throughout yesterday in the central area of the country, and the Korea Meteorological Administration forecast that, “The Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon areas will see a bit of snow around midday [today]. The Chungcheong provinces and the southern area will see rain or snow throughout the morning, but it will clear up after noon.”

The KMA added that particularly along the country’s east coast, including the Gangwon and Yeongdong areas, rain or snow will fall throughout today and tomorrow.

Jeju is forecast to see rain on Sunday.

“The central area will see some snow [today], but from [tomorrow] through the 15th, it will not see rain or snow,” said Kim Seung-bae, an officer at KMA.

However, he warned that temperatures in the central region will fall below zero this morning, freezing any snow still remaining in the ground and creating dangerous driving conditions.

Kim urged motorists to take special cautions on the road.

Starting Wednesday at dawn, Seoul and the metropolitan area saw heavy snow of up to 10 centimeters (3.9 inches).

Although most melted as the weather stayed between minus 1 to 2 degrees, some roads turned into a mixture of water and ice.

However, the heavy snow on the mountainous regions in Gangwon didn’t melt. In particular, snow in the Daegwanryeong area in Gangwon has piled up over 60 centimeters high.

By Kang Chan-su [jainnie@joongang.co.kr]