The unusually cold temperatures continue into January, plunging Korea into a deep freeze. The morning of January 16th was the coldest of the season, setting new lows in the recent cold snap.
From the KBS website:
" According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the Sunday morning lows came to -17.8 degrees Celsius in Seoul, -24.3 degrees in Cheolwon, -23.2 degrees in Jecheon, -22.5 degrees in Chuncheon, -16.2 degrees in Cheonan, -16.1 degrees in Daejeon, -13.1 degrees in Daegu, -11.7 degrees in Gwangju, and -12.8 degrees in Busan."
For the first time in a long time, people are actually able to walk on the frozen Nakdong River in Busan. That, so far, has been the only plus point of the unusually firigid weather in the southern part of the Korean peninsular which is more accustomed to milder winters.
People living in Gimhae, Gyeongsang-namdo faced dry taps when a water mains burst and in Busan, traffic came to a standstill for three hours when another pipe burst near an elevated highway and the gushing water froze three of seven lanes. Then again, many motorists couldn't even make it to the highways as their car engines stalled.
Local fishermen were caught off-guard when their boats were blocked by ice in the ports. According to one fisherman, he "had never seen frozen seawater in Busan in [his] entire life"
Caption from source: Cold snap continues: Residents walk past a line of snow-covered cars at an apartment complex in Nam-gu, Ulsan, Tuesday. Heavy snow hit Pohang, Ulsan and other cities of North Gyeongsang Province, snarling traffic in the region, with Pohang receiving a record 28.7 centimeters of snow. The weather office forecasts the freezing weather will continue across the nation throughout this week./ Yonhap
Caption from source: Icicles hang off an apartment in Seo District, Gwangju, yesterday, caused by a burst water pipe on the building’s exterior from the recent spell of extremely cold weather. [YONHAP]
BTW, a reminder to pedestrians on sidewalks, beware of falling icicles and black ice!
Caption from source: Water pipes rupture: Residents line up to receive tap water from a fire truck in Dong-gu, Busan, Monday as the ongoing cold spell froze and ruptured water pipes in countless households in the southern port city. The temperature there dipped to minus 12.8 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the lowest in 96 years./ Korea Times photo by Lee Seong-deok
When temperatures plunge, there's a chance the water supplies as well as power supplies will be affected while costs of utilities will soar. Power-conserving measures are already in place and civic buildings have been instructed to turn off their heating sources for certain periods to avoid a power shortage crisis. Employees have been encouraged to wear long johns or naeboks to their places of work.
Caption from source: White-tailed sea eagles fight at Gyeongpo Lake in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, Tuesday. Wild birds are believed to have difficulty finding prey these days as lakes and rivers are frozen amid the cold weather.
Even the birds aren't spared. As if H1N1 isn't enough, the wild birds now have to struggle to survive as food supplies become scarce. Any chance some kind councilmen are going to do what they did last year to feed the wild critters?
Notes from KBS - for those who want a little more on the changing climate:
"The typical weather pattern in Korean winter is three days of cold followed by four days of warmth. That means a cold spell usually dissipates after three days. This year’s winter feels particularly harsh not only because of the low temperatures, but also because of the lack of the temporary thaw. Snowstorms make matters worse, giving the impression that the winter freeze is not letting up. Thaws have not lasted long, reaching average temperatures for only half a day, two days at the most. In Seoul morning lows fell to minus 10 degrees or lower almost every day in 2011. At this rate Seoul’s average temperature in January will set the lowest record in 30 years. As of January 16th, a whopping eight days saw daily lows below negative 10 degrees, pulling down the average low temperature to below the minus-10-degree mark.
So why is the latest cold snap so relentless? The Korea Meteorological Administration attributes it to unusually high temperatures in the North Pole. In general the temperatures in the Arctic region remain very low. The colder the temperature in the North Pole, the faster the atmospheric air rotates, which traps the cold within a whirlpool of cold air and prevents it from spreading into the northern hemisphere. But this year’s unseasonably warm winter in the Arctic has slowed down the air circulation and has allowed the cold air to move south toward the middle latitude regions of the northern hemisphere. Some meteorological experts also claim that severe snowfalls in Siberia and the southeastern part of Mongolia have reflected energy out into the atmosphere and further cooled down the air in the upper stratosphere. The weather forecasters say that a large expanse of minus 40-degree air is hovering above the Korean Peninsula. It is ironic that the effects of global warming have thawed the North Pole, thus causing the extreme cold spell. Of course not all the blame for the extreme cold is directly attributed to global warming, but it is undeniable that changes in the climate are causing anomalies in weather patterns. "
sources:
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_zoom_detail.htm?No=6077
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/17/2011011700459.html
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/01/17/2011011700354.html
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2931075
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/01/115_79835.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/01/115_79774.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/01/115_79525.html
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/0
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2931118
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2931126
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/n_feature/2010/12/29/14/4901000000AEN20101229007800315F.HTML
