Bitter cold swept over the Korean Peninsula from Siberia and the Arctic over the weekend, plunging the temperature to minus 17.8 degrees Celsius (minus 0.04 Fahrenheit) in Seoul yesterday and bursting exterior water meters in the process.

The Korea Metrological Administration said yesterday that Seoul recorded its lowest temperature since Jan. 15, 2001. And the intense cold spell will continue until this Wednesday, the agency added.

In Busan, a port city that rarely gets temperatures below zero, the mercury dipped to minus 12.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 96 years. Wind chill is making it even worse.

“Wind is making it feel colder, to effectively minus 30 degrees in the middle regions [of the Korean Peninsula],” a weather agency official said.

Cheorwon in Gangwon, only 9 kilometers (5.59 miles) from the border with North Korea, came in at minus 24.3 degrees, recording the lowest temperature nationwide yesterday. Daejeon saw minus 16.1 degrees, Daegu hit minus 13.1 degrees and Gwangju was at minus 11.7 degrees, according to the weather agency.

Geoje, Milyang and Changwon, all in South Gyeongsang, recorded their own record-setting cold temperatures yesterday, breaking records held since the cities started weather observations in 1971, the agency said.

“High pressure in Siberia has expanded its strength and sent a cold air mass of minus 40 degrees to the Korean Peninsula,” the agency official said.

The agency said that warmer-than-usual-temperatures in the Arctic pushed freezing air into middle latitudes, causing the severe cold snap.

“And the snow cover in Siberia made the air moving from the North Pole even colder,” the official said.

The agency predicted minus 16 degrees in Seoul today, minus 21 in Cheorwon, minus 14 in Daejeon, minus 10 in Gwangju, minus 9 in Daegu and minus 7 in Busan.

In addition, Jeju Island, Ulleung Island, Dokdo islets and coastal cities blocked by mountains have seen snow since Saturday. Cold air passing over relatively warm seas formed snow clouds, weather analysts said, even covering Mount Halla on Jeju Island.

Reports came in from cities nationwide that water meters had frozen and burst. According to the Office of Waterworks at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, more than 200 Seoulites reported burst water meters yesterday.

“Apartments with old water meters outside the building froze and burst,” an official at the office said. “Opening the tap slightly and letting water run continuously will prevent them from freezing.”

In Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang, strong winds tore off a cover of a 23,000-square-meter greenhouse raising paprika.

“It will cost 60 million won ($53,811) to repair the cover,” said No Yeong-hwan, 61.


By Kim Hee-jin [heejin@joongang.co.kr]

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Essential Vocabulary: sweep(swept) over: 휩쓸고 지나가다/water meter: 수도 계량기 (had frozen and burst) 동파/wind chill: 체감온도/high pressure: 고기압