Schools closed, flights canceled after heavy overnight snow

Snow removal vehicles clear snow from the runway of Jeju International Airport on Friday morning after heavy snow hit Jeju Island overnight. (Yonhap)

Heavy snow has fallen in the southwest of the peninsula since Thursday night, causing a large number of flights to be canceled and schools to be closed on Friday. A number of traffic accidents were also reported overnight.

The heavy snow advisories, issued Thursday night around the southwest of the peninsula, continue to be in effect in Jeolla Province, Sejong, Chungcheong Province, Jeju Island, Ulleung Island and Dokdo as of 12:00 p.m., Friday.

According to the Jeollabukdo Office of Education on Friday, 45 kindergartens, 73 elementary schools, 43 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 2 special schools in the North Jeolla Province are closed for the day. A total of 165 places, including 34 kindergartens, 74 elementary schools, 37 middle schools, and 20 high schools, delayed the opening of school for 30 minutes to an hour.

North Jeolla Province, which has already seen 10 to 50 centimeters of snow as of 6 a.m. Friday, will see another 5 to 20 centimeters of snow by Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, many flights were canceled in Jeju, including all flights scheduled for Friday morning.

Originally, a total of 178 flights -- 90 departures and 88 arrivals – were scheduled to operate on Friday, but as of 9 a.m., 73 flights were canceled - 42 departures and 31 arrivals.

The airlines companies decided to cancel 296 flights -- 143 departures and 153 arrivals -- in advance on Thursday afternoon, in anticipation of poor weather conditions at Jeju Airport, but the extra cancellations continued through the morning.

Currently, the strong wind advisory issued at Jeju Airport is scheduled to be in effect until midnight on Saturday, and it remains unknown when flights will resume.

By Lee Jung-youn(jy@heraldcorp.com)