Thick snow hit South Korea’s wider Seoul area and the eastern region of Gangwon on Sunday, prompting authorities to raise the weather alert and brace for possible disruptions, officials said, but no major damage was reported.
Seoul had received around 6 centimetres of snow in some areas as of noon, with some 5,245 personnel and 1,439 pieces of equipment mobilised to clear roads, according to the Seoul metropolitan government.
The city government, however, said no major damage has occurred. A heavy snow alert was lifted at 12.30 p.m.
In Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, some northern cities received around 10 cm of snow, with the border town of Paju receiving some 12 cm of snow as of 3 p.m. Heavy snow alerts in the province were lifted after 1 p.m.
In Gangwon Province, officials cordoned off the entrance of some 25 trekking routes at national parks for visitor safety, while a morning flight from Wonju to the southern resort island of Jeju was cancelled.
As of 3.30 p.m., most heavy snow alerts had been lifted across the nation, excluding the mountain areas of Jeju, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
The KMA earlier forecast Seoul to receive up to 8 centimetres of snow through Monday, with Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces to see as much as 10 cm in the same period, Yonhap news agency reported.
The Ministry of Interior and Safety said it had activated the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters at Level 1 and raised the crisis alert to “caution” from “attention” as of 8 a.m.
Acting Interior Minister Ko Ki-dong instructed relevant agencies to mobilise all personnel and equipment to minimize damage from heavy snowfall and implement measures to reduce public inconvenience, such as traffic congestion.
In 2024, South Korea’s capital city logged a record November snowfall, with more than 16 cm of snow blanketing Seoul, the weather service had said.
The snow that had started to fall in Seoul had reached 16.5 cm, marking the largest November snowfall since modern weather observations began in October 1907, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
It had topped the previous November high of 12.4 cm, which had been recorded on November 28, 1972.
