Icy roads and heavy fog

[Anchor]

Today (1.14), we will look into why there is an unusual amount of black ice on the roads.

As the cold eases, humidity has increased, and thick fog has formed, which are identified as the causes.

Meteorological expert Lee Se-heum has analyzed the situation.

[Report]

Before dawn, the dark road reflects the lights of vehicles as if it were wet.

Additionally, the fog is so thick that visibility is reduced to just a few dozen meters.

Throughout the night, light rain or snow fell in the central region, and until the morning, accidents due to road black ice occurred in various places.

In particular, in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, more than 100 vehicles were involved in a chain collision.

Although the cold wave was not extreme, the easing of the cold during the early morning commute was found to be the cause of the major accidents.

[Jang Jin-hwan/Researcher, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology: "Here, it’s 0 degrees, but it fluctuates around 0 degrees. The outside temperature on the vehicle's dashboard probably didn’t drop below 0 degrees. However, in my view, the pavement temperature has dropped and is still lingering here."]

The temperature at the time of the accidents was around 0 degrees.

However, experts analyzed that the road surface temperature likely dropped below 0 degrees.

[Jang Jin-hwan/Researcher, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology: "Even if the air temperature has risen significantly (recently), the surface temperature remains below zero. This gap can be as much as 4 degrees."]

Humidity was also a problem.

As the temperature increased, the amount of water vapor in the air also rose, pushing humidity above 90%.

Due to the stable air, the excess moisture in the air froze on the road surface or turned into dense fog.

[Gong Sang-min/Meteorological Administration Forecast Analyst: "In the sub-zero range near the road surface, the surface freezes, and above it, there is moisture, which worsens visibility as the temperature drops."]

The Meteorological Administration warned that while there will be no fog tomorrow (1.15) as the cold wave resumes, caution is still needed for black ice on the roads.

This is KBS News, Lee Se-heum.