Wednesday marked the coldest day so far this fall in South Korea, with many regions reporting subzero temperatures. Cold, crisp weather is in the forecast for Thursday too, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

On Wednesday, most inland areas in the central region reported morning lows below zero degrees Celsius as a cold air mass moved in from the northwest.

The mercury dipped to minus 8 degrees in Yeoncheon and minus 6.2 degrees in Yeoju, both in Gyeonggi Province, while Sejong reported a low of minus 4.3 degrees and Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, reached minus 3.4 degrees.

Seoul’s official low for Wednesday was 0.3 degrees Celsius, recorded at its representative observation post in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. But some districts saw temperatures below freezing. Eunpyeong-gu in northern Seoul logged the lowest temperature, minus 4.9 degrees.

Temperatures fell as low as minus 8.8 degrees in mountainous Gangwon Province, while some high-altitude areas got as cold as minus 9.9 degrees. 

The province was also the first in the country to see the first snow of the season: It fell on Seoraksan and other mountains in Gangwon Province on Tuesday.

For Thursday, morning lows are expected to range from minus 3 to plus 8 degrees and midday highs from 14-19 degrees across the country, slightly higher than Wednesday’s.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)