Two days of heavy snow caused 'damage'...What's the reason why it's 3 times heavier?

■ Host: Kim Sun-young Anchor, Jung Ji-woong Anchor
■ Starring: Kim Jin-doo, YTN weather disaster reporter

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News Special] when quoting.

[Anchor]
The unusual heavy snow in November, this time with Kim Jin-doo, a YTN weather disaster reporter. Welcome. Yesterday and today is November, right?

[Reporter]
I've never seen eyes like this before. December is also quite difficult to see snow like this, but in my view, it is the first time in the history of weather observation that such snow has fallen in November. In fact, if you look at the records, even in Seoul, many areas were over 40cm. There was a lot of rain in the southern part of Gyeonggi Province last night. In many places, it's 50cm. In the case of Suwon, it was over 40cm. Incheon also had 25.7cm of snow. However, according to the records, Incheon was the first place where weather observation began in Korea. It was 1904, but Incheon had the most snow in 120 years since 1904. In Seoul, the snow fell the most in 117 years, and in Suwon, weather observation began in 1964, so the snow fell the most in 60 years. So, in November of observation history, such heavy snow was the worst ever, you can see it like this.

[Anchor]
It is said that Gyeonggi-do Province has issued emergency stage 3 for the first time in 12 years due to record heavy snow, how much is this?

[Reporter]
Basically, there are not many emergency stages that are made like this due to snow. Especially in Seoul, it is extremely unusual for snow to fall more than 20cm and more than 40cm. That's the amount of snow. And basically, the fact that it is not partially mobilized to remove snow, but is issued up to stage three, is a situation in which all available resources and manpower are mobilized. Therefore, it is quite difficult to see the eyes of this situation, and it is extremely unusual for this phenomenon to occur, especially in the case of Seoul and the metropolitan area. This is the case in areas where a lot of snow falls due to the topographical influence of the west coast or the east coast, but I can tell you that this is the first time ever in the metropolitan area.

[Anchor]
The Korea Meteorological Administration knew that the heavy snow forecast would continue to snow, but this time, the amount of snow was a lot off, right?

[Reporter]
Snowfall first forecast was more than 10cm. Making a forecast of more than 10cm is a warning that there will be more snow than a heavy snow warning. But the actual drop was over 20cm. More than 20cm means snow at the level of a heavy snow warning. However, unlike rain, snow is quite difficult to predict. If 1mm of rain falls, it's like 10 times and 1cm of snow falls. So 1mm of rain becomes 1cm of snow. 10mm of rain becomes 10cm of snow. This means that depending on how the snow piece passes through and how the snow cloud passes, the amount of snow can move back and forth by 5 to 10 cm. Therefore, the fact that the forecast of more than 10cm was given to the Korea Meteorological Administration to prepare for the big snow. Accordingly, I can tell you that we have come to the present situation by increasing the amount of snow.

[Anchor]
It is said that there was a large difference in the amount of snow in Seoul by region, but why did this phenomenon occur?

[Journalist]
A piece of snow may have come in and sprinkled it over. You can get off in the next area without getting off after developing a little more. So, if it's a snow cloud that contains a certain amount of snow, it moves around and sprinkles snow, and this time it's accompanied by wind. It is accompanied by strong winds. Think about it. Unlike the rain from above, when it snows, it flies. Because it is a situation where it flies according to the wind, just because snow clouds pass through this area, it doesn't snow from the area right below, but snow falls on the side. The stronger the wind, the more different the area where it falls, so there was a lot of difference even within Seoul, where the amount of snow was the same, and more snow fell in the east than in the west.

[Anchor]
Actually, I was a little nervous this morning on my way to work, but I thought the ground would freeze because the temperature was going to drop a lot. But the temperature didn't drop as much as I thought?

[Reporter]
Don't you say that the characteristic of this snow is heavy snow? It's called wet snow, and when it comes to wet snow, it's snow that contains a lot of moisture. However, the characteristics of the eyes, including a lot of moisture, cause a lot of damage to the facilities. You've probably seen it on your way to work, but you've seen the tree's branches droopy. That's why the snow is so heavy, and that's why the utility pole was broken or damaged. In order to contain a lot of moisture, the temperature should not be very low.

So, when it fell below minus 10 degrees Celsius, humid snow is not made, and a lot of this heavy wet snow is made above minus 10 degrees Celsius, that is, near at least zero degrees, and this was exactly the case. So, there was a lot of snow and heavy snow that lasted for a long time, and the damage was huge, but one good thing was that the temperature was not very low, so the worst traffic disturbance that turned into a really icy road was avoided because the temperature stayed near zero. I can tell you that's because of the temperature.

[Anchor]
The situation would have been different if it had been 5 degrees lower.

[Reporter]
Then it would have been difficult to remove snow. Also, in the case of the side road, the damage would have been much greater because it turned into almost perfect ice sheets.

[Anchor]
You told me that wet snow is heavier because it contains moisture. Then, the damage may be greater when it's humid than when it's construction, right?

[Reporter]
First of all, the weight of a general eye is much heavier than you think. Let's think about it. How much do you think it would weigh if 1cm of snow were piled up in a 1m by 1m space?

[Anchor]
I think it's going to be light.

[Reporter]
It's about 3kg. So, if 1cm of snow accumulates in 1m and 1m spaces, that's about 3kg. As you can see, it's 2m wide and about 10m long, and if about 10cm of snow accumulates, it becomes 600kg. So if 600kg of snow accumulates, consider the weight.

[Anchor] It's really different from watching
.

[Reporter]
It's really different. So when it snowed a lot, I told you. I told you it snowed 10cm. It snowed 20cm in Seoul. In the mountains of Gangwon-do, it was over 30cm and in Yongin, it snowed 50cm. If it is piled up as it is, not only greenhouses but also very hard domed gyms will collapse. Especially in the middle of the snow, construction is a flying snow, that is, a little light snow, while humid snow weighs two to three times more than construction, so the damage to facilities is inevitable.

[Anchor]
Since we're talking about it, it's been a lot of damage due to the accumulation of it, so let's take a look at it for a moment. At a golf course in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do, it is said that the iron net completely collapsed. So you explained how much it actually weighs a little while ago, but is it heavy enough for the steel net to collapse?

[Reporter]
That's right. In the case of steel nets, you can see if you go to the golf course, but there's basically an axis. It's a form of placing nets on the axis. On top of that, isn't Pyeongtaek near Yongin? At least 40 centimeters of snow must have fallen. As I said earlier, it was 10cm long. That was 600kg. But look at it. Isn't the golf course very big? It's wide and a little saggy. Let's imagine that a lot of snow was piled up and driven to one place. Then, it becomes a situation where the weight of several tons is pressed, so it has no choice but to collapse.

[Anchor]
In the case of farms, don't greenhouses operate quite a lot in winter? Those damages can be significant, right?

[Reporter]
That's right. In winter, you've heard a lot of stories about heavy snow, heavy snow, and snow bombs on the west and east coasts, and the greenhouse farms that suffer the most when such a phenomenon occurs are the greenhouse farms. If snow accumulates, if you don't clean up the snow properly, as I said earlier, it's a habit because most of the snow on the west and east coasts came in from the sea. Because the weight is pressed down, there is inevitably a lot of damage to the greenhouse. The same goes for this snow. As I said earlier, it was not light snow, but heavy moisture-filled snow, and some highlands are not high, so if it continues to accumulate, it will inevitably lead to damage to facilities, and it seems that human damage has occurred in connection with such facilities.

[Anchor]
In the case of habitual snow, it would be good to remember that you have to thoroughly check such barns, greenhouses, or embankments after looking at the damage situation. Why did so many people come? We need to look into the cause, but some say it's because of some kind of blocking phenomenon. What do you mean?

[Reporter]
These three bad news overlapped. The first phenomenon is blocking because if there is a high pressure in the east of Korea and a strong high pressure on the east coast of Korea, you can't get out of the low pressure approaching from the west, because you're holding on. So this low pressure is spinning. It shows the characteristics of developing more as it goes round and round. Look, this is the next question. I told you that the low pressure is spinning. It turns around and drags down the cold air. If you go to a bathhouse in that state, doesn't steam continue to rise on the hot spring? It's that phenomenon. The sea temperature in Korea was relatively warm. Another problem was that it was about 2 degrees higher than in previous years.

At such a warm temperature, the very cold air circled and came down toward Korea, and the water vapor filled with moisture rose from the sea, which formed a snow cloud. Because the temperature itself was lowered, the snow cloud came inland and sprayed a lot of snow, and that was the worst November snow on record.

[Anchor]
Is the high sea level temperature related to the prolonged heat wave this summer?

[Reporter]
That's right. In connection with the phenomenon, the sea temperature around Korea was about 2 degrees higher than in previous years. In such a state, it snowed a lot because the cold air continued to circulate, and the snow was blocked for two consecutive days, and the development of a strong low pressure, and the seawater was warm. These three overlapping led to unprecedented heavy snow in November.

[Anchor]
There is also a forecast that it will snow again next week or so after it stops snowing for a while.

[Reporter]
Snow is forecasted next Tuesday or so.

[Anchor]
Is this related to the blocking phenomenon you mentioned?

[Reporter]
The blocking phenomenon is now gone. By tomorrow, the blocking phenomenon will disappear, and the barometer will return to normal and the temperature itself will rise little by little. In that situation, another low pressure will pass next week, and a strong low pressure will pass, which is rare in winter. If such a strong low pressure passes, there will be concerns that it will be heavy snow again, but fortunately, the temperature will be in the video next week. Therefore, in the central part of the country, most inland areas will fall in rain, not snow, and in mountainous areas, it will fall in snow because the temperature is low. So, it will rain a lot for winter rain and quite a lot for winter snow, but most inland areas will rain. Also, fortunately, it's fast to move. Because there is no blocking phenomenon. It is expected that there will be no major damage because it will pass by in about half a day and the duration will not be that long.

[Anchor]
I think a lot of people are going through winter now because of this heavy snow, but it's going to be December soon. Isn't the cold snap coming right away?

[Reporter]
Not right now. Looking at the morning temperature, it's about minus 1-2 degrees Celsius, based on Seoul. Since the daytime temperature has also risen through the video, it seems that it will be a little milder than the winter weather in previous years. For the time being, there is no big cold to call it a cold wave. If you look at this, the temperature is coming out, but in Seoul, the temperature is up to minus 4 degrees, minus 2 degrees, and zero degrees. Since the daytime temperature is mostly in the video zone, there is no cold to call it a big cold or cold wave for the time being.

[Anchor]
If you look at the weather forecast of the Korea Meteorological Administration not too long ago, there are some areas where the forecasts are slightly colder or warmer than usual.

[Reporter]
It's not mixed. Basically, this winter's weather is somewhat milder than usual, and it seems likely to be warm. Because of the La Niña phenomenon, the temperature itself is likely to be slightly higher than in previous years. The problem is that we are now living in an era of warming. The effects of warming are that the coldness in the Arctic can come down in winter. It is warming, but once the cold has come down, when the cold trapped in the Arctic comes down, a very powerful cold wave that has not been seen in previous years can come. So, the warm weather continues for a very long time than usual, and when the cold suddenly comes down, the relative temperature difference becomes very severe. So this winter, there's not much cold this year. It's not that cold. When a cold wave suddenly strikes once or twice, it causes a very severe cold wave, and the intensity of the cold feeling will be a little worse. It's this kind of weather.

[Anchor]
Lastly, there are a lot of people who have been affected by heavy snow, and there are a lot of bad roads and snow piled up in the cars, so there are some things you need to be personally careful about after the heavy snow. Please point it out to the end of that part.

[Reporter]
It snowed a lot in the Seoul metropolitan area, Seoul, and northeastern Gyeonggi-do yesterday. However, during the night, the snow clouds went down slightly to the south, and heavy snow poured mainly in southern Gyeonggi and Chungcheong areas. Now, the intensity of the eyes will weaken little by little. And it will fall a little more overnight, and tomorrow it will fall only partially on the west coast and stop snowing. But the problem is that it's already snowing a lot and the temperature was video, but tomorrow morning, the temperature in Seoul is minus 4 degrees. If so, roads will dry in places where snow removal has been done, and in places where there is a lot of vehicle operation, but in areas where there is little vehicle operation, there is a high possibility that it will melt and freeze. If it freezes, the problem is that thin ice on the road occurs. So the color of the road is black, so if there is ice on it, you can't see it, whether there is ice or not. The phenomenon of what was called black ice in the past appears the same. If thin ice appears on the road, you don't know if there is thin ice on the road until you slip on it. You have to be very careful. At the same time, it seems necessary to be careful about falling accidents.

[Anchor]
There are a lot of people who let their guard down right after the snow stops, but please remember that you have to be very careful on your way to work tomorrow morning. This has been Kim Jin-du, a YTN weather disaster reporter. Thank you.