Seoul's first cold wave warning this winter...Expected to experience '19 degrees below zero' on the way to work.

■ Host: anchor Lee Jung-seop, anchor Cho Ye-jin, anchor
■ Starring: Kim Seung-bae, head of the Korea Natural Disaster Association,

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

[Anchor]
On my way to work this morning, a cold wave warning was issued in the metropolitan area and central region, including Seoul. In addition, there is a concern about damage to facilities due to a series of heavy snow on the west coast. More on the situation, let's take a look at it with Kim Seung-bae, the head of the Korea Natural Disaster Association. Please come in. Let's start with the cold wave warning, and we've heard about the weatherman at the scene, but Seoul is now down to minus 9 degrees Celsius. I think the wind chill will be very high at this rate.

[Kim Seungbae]
That's right. The sensible temperature is the temperature felt by the wind at the same temperature. In summer, the temperature is the same, but the temperature you feel varies depending on the humidity. Winter depends on the wind, but every time we blow about 1 m/s, our body feels about 1 degree lower. So, even if it's the same minus 10 degrees Celsius, if the wind blows at a speed of 5m per second, the wind chill is about minus 14 degrees Celsius or 15 degrees Celsius. That's why the stronger the wind blows, the lower the wind chill.

[Anchor]
We are also concerned about the freeze accident. It is said that if it falls below minus 10 degrees Celsius, even if the insulation material is used, freezing is feared. How should we prepare for a cold wave like this?

[Kim Seungbae]
That's right. This cold should have come once around late December or around Christmas, but looking back on last winter, I had a very warm winter. The lowest temperature in Seoul so far was only minus 7.7 degrees Celsius. Temperatures are expected to be 1 to 2 degrees lower tomorrow morning than today, but in this case, a freeze in the water pipe occurs. The problem is the water pipe outside and the meter outside. So it's better to let the water flow little by little. If you turn it on lightly, you don't have to worry about the water bill. So it's much better to spill water little by little than the repair cost of freezing the meter. And you have to put old clothes in the meter's warmth to prevent cold air from entering. Then no matter how low the temperature is, it won't freeze. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent freezing in the metropolitan area by using thermal insulation or old clothes, and if you turn off the boiler when you are away for a long time, it can explode if the cold comes like this. So, it's better to set the boiler to repeat that it's turned off and running depending on the temperature in the room. So, after winter, this level of cold must come at least once or twice, so when you are away for such a long time, you should pay special attention to the freezing of water pipes or boilers.

[Anchor]
Let's talk about snow. It's cold, but there's a lot of heavy snow on the west coast, and it's expected that it could fall up to 30cm on the west coast of Chungnam and Honam today. Then, the snow continues to accumulate, so I think you need to pay attention to facility management.

[Kim Seungbae]
That's right. After global warming, winter is warmer than in the past. At this time, when the cold air of minus 35 degrees Celsius descends to the upper layer like now, the sea lake effect or the Babah Sea effect, when the cold air comes down from the north, the steam evaporated from the sea passes through the warm West Sea and meets the cold air, and clouds develop. Because it rains due to the influence of these clouds, so-called wet snow that does not come in cold conditions falls, and wet snow is two to three times heavier than construction. So when the snow falls about 20 to 30 cm, the greenhouse is a kind of temporary facility. Because I put the plastic on it. So if it snows this much, it will collapse. So even at night, in a greenhouse complex with so much snow, you have no choice but to sweep it away so that it doesn't accumulate much snow. So I personally think that the structure should be changed to a pointed shape rather than a round shape, but when it snows a lot like this, weak facilities will collapse, and if you think about it, is it Busan Foreign University due to a lot of heavy snow in February? There's an incident like that when I went on an MT in February and the roof collapsed, so the weight of the snow is quite heavy, so you have to pay special attention to the collapse of the facility when there's so much snow.

[Anchor]
As the general manager said, isn't there a possibility of an accident if you do some snow removal in front of a greenhouse or house? What should I be careful about when removing snow?

[Kim Seungbae]
The damage caused by snow in winter is a traffic problem and snow accumulates in front of the house. You have to be extra careful. If you get off when you can't see it at night, it's dangerous by passing cars, so I think you should always be fully prepared. These safety measures are needed, such as wearing gloves and walking without putting your hands in your pockets, so that you don't fall when you do snow removal or when you walk around with snow piled up like this.

[Anchor]
There is a cold wave in the Seoul metropolitan area and heavy snow on the west coast. But as you just mentioned, you said it's a wet blanket. In the end, the clouds containing water vapor are stagnant, so where is the reason why it's stagnant here without moving?

[Kim Seungbae]
If you go up 5.5km above the upper layer, the ionizing low pressure from the north of minus 35 degrees Celsius remains on the upper layer of Korea. It's on the map right now, and that low pressure is turning counterclockwise, continuing to send cold air down from the northwest toward our country. So, such an atmospheric pressure arrangement has been formed since about the 6th. So this time, a strong cold wave came and a strong snow cloud was formed on the West Sea, and the ionizing low pressure of the upper layer is expected to fall east by Saturday. Until then, if such a cold wind continues to come down strongly, the temperature difference between the sea and the atmosphere will increase, and the sea temperature difference will increase, so snow clouds will develop again. That's why I became stronger. While repeating that it has weakened, it continues to show a lot of snow mainly in the west coast area. That's why the west coast of Korea snows a lot because of such a structure, and on the contrary, if there is a high pressure up there, the snow clouds developed in the East Sea will rotate clockwise and cause about 1m of this snow in Yeongdong, Gangwon-do. In this case, until today or tomorrow morning, my eyes became stronger. This afternoon is expected to be the biggest challenge for snow, as it looks like it will continue to weaken, and the west coast is expected to fall further.

[Anchor]
We need to prepare for cold weather and heavy snow by this Saturday. The road conditions will be very bad as snow falls and freezes repeatedly due to the extreme cold. What should I be careful about when driving on the road?

[Kim Seungbae]
You have to be extra careful with road freezing. It's still snowing now, but it stops and melts during the day, and of course, it freezes because the cold doesn't go away soon at night. Curves and shaded areas are frozen on the road, and cars are very dangerous in those curves called black ice. It is said that an accident caused by such snow occurred on the road in Honam between yesterday and today. Therefore, vehicles should be careful of road freezing, and pedestrians should pay special attention to walking on icy roads, especially the elderly. So in this case, it would be good to avoid unnecessary going out in snowy areas.

[Anchor]
There seems to be an accident in which signs fall in the west coast and Jeonbuk region of Chungnam, where a lot of snow is falling. How should I prepare for an accident like this?

[Kim Seungbae]
There are five types of weather warnings in place right now. So, there are special warnings related to various natural disasters, such as strong wind, heavy snow, cold wave warnings, high waves in the sea, and dry weather warnings because the east coast is dry. In this case, you have to pay attention to keeping warm when it comes to cold waves, and we talked about freezing water pipes, but you have to be careful about personal cold diseases, that is, hypothermia, and you have to pay special attention to keeping warm at the end of winter, when the temperature is the lowest this winter, so there are times when the temperature is the highest of the year, in summer. There are times when the temperature is the lowest of the year, and today and tomorrow, this cold is expected to be the peak of this winter's coldest.

[Anchor]
There are also a series of accidents where signboards are falling, so if your business' signboards are a little dangerous, it would be good to check them out. It is said that the cold wave is at its peak today and tomorrow. What do you think of the possibility of such a cold wave coming this winter?

[Kim Seungbae]
In the influence of global warming, December, January, and February are called winter, and we spent December now. It's passing through early January, and looking back last winter, there wasn't a very strong cold. The Samhansaon phenomenon, in which the temperature is low for two to three days and then softens again for two to three days, has been clearly repeated, and the temperature will be higher than usual this winter, after December, January, and February. In the future, the remaining January will be similar to or higher than the average year. So, this much, minus 10 and 12 degrees Celsius is the lowest temperature in Seoul this winter, but there was a time when the lowest temperature in Seoul was minus 23 degrees in 1927. These days, there is no such strong cold, but we are always experiencing this cold in winter, so if we pass it well to avoid this damage, it is expected that spring will come soon in February and March.

[Anchor]
You pointed out that this cold is a crisis. So far, I was with Kim Seung-bae, the head of the Korea Natural Disaster Association. Thank you for talking today.