South left piled under snow as Seoul misses out on white Christmas

Buildings and farming facilities were damaged, roads were closed and flights were canceled as heavy snow pounded the country’s southern regions over Christmas weekend.

The Han River as seen from Gimpo, Gyeonggi, on Sunday. The Korea Meteorological Administration announced Sunday that the Han River froze for the first time this year, about 16 days earlier than average. [YONHAP]

Buildings and farming facilities were damaged, roads were closed and flights were canceled as heavy snow pounded the country’s southern regions over Christmas weekend.

Most of the nation’s central regions, which include the Seoul metropolitan area of the capital city, Incheon and Gyeonggi, did not experience snowfall but instead had temperatures plummet to some of the lowest levels yet this season.

No casualties were immediately reported nationwide.

Several people went missing, but most were found as of Sunday.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said Sunday that snow for Monday was only forecast for the eastern part of Gangwon, Ulleung Island and the Dokdo islets.

Temperatures will rise a few degrees on Monday nationwide and a bit more on Tuesday, though it is still expected to be colder than in previous years.

The Seoul metropolitan area will hit around minus 14 degrees Celsius (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) to minus 7 degrees Celsius in the morning on Monday and climb up to minus 1 degree to 2 degrees Celsius in the afternoon, said the KMA.

That’s warmer than on Sunday, when the low was minus 9 degrees Celsius and the high was zero degrees Celsius.

The temperature on Tuesday will be around the same as on Monday in the greater Seoul area.

The KMA announced Sunday that the Han River froze for the first time this year, about 16 days earlier than average and 15 days earlier than two years before.

The weather agency has kept track of the freezing of the Han River since 1906.

The Han River is considered “frozen” when the water in an observation zone 100 meters away (328 feet) from the fourth and second pier of the Han Grand Bridge freezes to the point where the water underneath it cannot be observed.

The Han River did not freeze last year.

Most property damage caused by the heavy snow over the weekend came from farms in the southern regions.

Over 200 cases of property damage were reported in the southwestern province of North Jeolla alone, where some areas saw more than 60 centimeters (23.6 inches) of snow from Wednesday to Saturday.

Almost all of those reports involved greenhouse roofs caving in under the weight of the snow.

In Sunchang County, North Jeolla, over 340 houses had their water cut off due to frozen water pipes.

North Jeolla officials said they asked their counterparts in Gangwon for assistance in clearing the snow from roads, and were eventually offered seven snowplows and 15 workers.

In the South Jeolla and Gwangju region, where some areas measured as much as 40 centimeters of snow, about 100 farms reported damages in their greenhouses and other structures. The highest number of reports came from South Jeolla’s Damyang County.

Jeju Island was also severely hit, with the higher elevations receiving 92.3 centimeters of snow on Christmas Eve alone.

Around 30 tourists were rescued by police on Thursday after being stranded on Mount Halla.

Many planes going to and from Jeju Island were delayed due to snow and strong winds.

The Jeju International Airport said flights have resumed as of the morning of Christmas Eve, and ship routes resumed from the afternoon.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]