Caution advised for icy roads

[Anchor]

Today (1.31), heavy snow fell in the central regions including the metropolitan area.

In the southern regions, rain started in the afternoon.

During the weekend, 'freezing rain' is forecasted, so please be especially cautious of icy roads.

Weather specialist Lee Se-heum reports.

[Report]

The entire park turned white with heavy snow.

Today, about 4cm of snow fell in the central regions including the metropolitan area.

[Oh Da-hee/Incheon: "It snowed more than I expected, so it's hard to take pictures, but I'm satisfied because they turned out pretty."]

Due to the snow, many travelers used public transportation to return home.

[Song Jeong-min & Jo Jeong-hwan/Seoul: "I thought it would be inconvenient to use a car because of the snow, so I took the train. It was snowing again while coming back to Seoul, so if I had driven, it would have been a real disaster."]

In the southern regions, rain clouds began to gather from late afternoon.

Over the weekend, 5 to 30mm of rain is expected in the southern regions, with up to 70 mm in Jeju, unusually high for winter rain.

[Gong Sang-min/Korea Weather Agency, Forecast Analyst: "Due to the influence of a low-pressure system, rain will fall mainly in Jeju and the southern regions until Sunday morning, and there is a need for special caution regarding traffic safety as icy roads may occur in low-temperature inland areas."]

In particular, the rain falling from tonight until tomorrow morning (2.1) is expected to be 'freezing rain'.

Snow in the upper atmosphere turns into rain at above-zero temperatures, then cools again near the ground where temperatures are below zero, causing raindrops to freeze immediately upon contact with the ground.

The chain collision accident on the Sangju-Yeongcheon Expressway in 2019, which resulted in over forty casualties, was also due to freezing rain.

[Jang Jin-hwan/Researcher at Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology: "Drivers turn on their wipers as raindrops appear on their car windows, not realizing they are actually turning into ice on the roads."]

Temperatures are expected to remain above normal for the time being, but the Weather Agency predicts a cold wave with temperatures dropping below minus 10 degrees around mid-next week.

KBS News, Lee Se-heum.