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The sudden onslaught of heavy snow Tuesday night created slick streets throughout Seoul.
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The ¡°Great Korean Migration,¡± estimated to hit 39 million people, is in full swing.
On Wednesday, the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, the mercury dropped precipitously as a nationwide cold spell set in. Seoul recorded a morning low of -15.3 degrees centigrade. Temperatures in Gangweon Province reached as low at 20 below -- 6:00 a.m. temperatures were -18.3 degrees in Cheorweon, -17.8 dgrees at the Daegwallyeong Pass, -13.1 degrees in Chuncheon, -12.8 degrees in Weonju, and -12.5 degrees in Yeongweol.
The cold spell and sub-zero temperatures are expected to last throughout the New Year holiday period. The National Weather Bureau predicts that on Thurday, Lunar New Year¡¯s Day, Seoul will experience a morning low temperature of -16 degrees and a daytime high of - 7 degrees.
With snow falling throughout the night in Seoul and the Gyeonggi and Chungcheong provinces, roads are frozen in places and traffic conditions are extremely poor.
The government designated the period between Tuesday and Monday a ¡°special transportation period,¡± and organized 482 extra train departures, 286 extra express buses, and 230 extra flights for the Lunar New Year holiday. It also decided to run an extra 880 ferry trips for travelers returning to island hometowns.
Sung-ho Youn/Robert Koehler, internetnews@chosun.com
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