[Issue Plus] Tomorrow, snow...How to deal with heavy snow?

■ Host: Lee Yeo-jin, anchor Jang Won-seok
■ Starring: Kim Jin-doo, YTN weather disaster reporter, Yeom Gun-woong, professor of police fire administration at Yuwon University,


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

[Anchor]
Let's look into the causes of this all-time heavy snow and how to deal with the damage situation with experts.

Let's take a look at Kim Jin-doo, a YTN weather disaster reporter, and Yeom Gun-woong, a professor of police fire administration at Yuwon University. Welcome.

With snow falling for two consecutive nights, Seoul's official snowfall is 28.6cm, but more than 40cm fell in Gwanak-gu. Have you ever expected this?

[Reporter]
I've never seen it. So it's the first time since the weather observation. In particular, in the case of the metropolitan area, this phenomenon often occurs in the middle of winter in Gangwon mountainous areas and west coast areas. In particular, heavy snow of more than 50cm or more than 1m may fall in the west coast area in January, and in February, around the mountainous areas of Gangwon-do. However, I've never seen so much snow in Seoul and other metropolitan areas. Also, looking at the records, it's the first time in the history of weather observation. So, in the case of Incheon, weather observation began in 1904 for the first time in the country, and the heaviest snow fell in November in 120 years. Seoul has the record of the heaviest snow in 117 years, and Suwon also has the record of the heaviest snow in 60 years. So in the case of the metropolitan area, this is the most snow since the observation began, and you can see it like this.

[Anchor]
How is the cause of this heavy snow analyzed?

[Reporter]
There are about three causes. First of all, I told you that it is very unusual for this to happen in November and that it is the first time in the history of weather observation. For that to happen, a reasonable environment must be created for this much snow to fall in November. First, there was a strong high pressure in the east of Korea. In that situation, the low pressure moved and passed through Korea, but the high pressure was blocked, so I couldn't pass. It turns because it can't escape, and it develops when the low pressure turns. That's why snow continues for about three days until yesterday, the day before yesterday, and tomorrow morning, and this strong low pressure meets the warm West Sea and sprays strong moisture-containing snow continuously. So, it's not winter yet, with two consecutive days in the Seoul metropolitan area and three days in the West Coast area. In November, a very unusual phenomenon appeared.

[Anchor]
Has the third stage of emergency response been operated in Gyeonggi-do, but has the third stage ever been operated due to heavy snow?

[Yum Gunwoong]
It's been 12 years. Actually, it's been around before. However, as you said, it actually snowed nearly 30cm in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do on average. Because it is based on where the weather station is located, it is actually almost 30cm of snow, including other areas, in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do on average. It suddenly snowed a lot and it weighs about 3 times because it's humid. As it suddenly hit at night and a lot of snow fell, various problems eventually occurred. In particular, many accidents such as vehicle slip accidents and parking lot collapses occurred yesterday, so Gyeonggi Province eventually issued the third stage of response for the first time in 12 years, and it can be considered that heavy snow and heavy snow have reached a serious level. Therefore, it was a stage in which all available resources and manpower were mobilized to respond to snow removal. I think we've heard a lot of fire response steps. In the case of the first stage, it is a nearby fire station, and in the case of the second stage, it is three to four fire stations. But by the third stage, we can mobilize all available resources. Likewise, Gyeonggi-do Province was doing its best in three stages yesterday by mobilizing all available resources and manpower.

[Anchor]
I'm worried about the icy road because the wet snow melts, freezes, and continues to fall. A 53-car crash occurred in Gangwon-do yesterday. What should I be most careful about on my way home from work?

[Yum Gunwoong]
First of all, you have to pay attention to road traffic, but there was a case where the sun was shining during the day. So the snow has melted almost a lot and snow removal is almost perfect. However, the problem is that this snow melts again and then freezes. At night, there is a possibility that this snow will freeze again because the wind is very windy and the wind is around -1 degrees Celsius in the YTN report earlier. Then the so-called black ice is created.

That's why invisible ice sheets are created. When black ice like this is produced, it is a very dangerous situation. There is a high possibility that such an accident will occur again, such as yesterday's 53-car crash. In particular, the danger of black ice is that we drive while looking at snow, so we slow down. It decelerates by saying that there is snow, but black ice looks fine on the outside. Because it looks just like a road or asphalt, there are times when you speed up, and then it's very difficult to stop the brakes while you speed up. Even if you put the brakes on it, the vehicle completely goes wrong and turns around. So, in such a crash, there is a situation where you can't brake, especially at night.

Especially during the day, under an overpass or in an area with low traffic. These places are very likely to produce black ice. And when we look at the road as three one-way lanes, when there are one, two, and three lanes, you have to go to the two lanes on the main road. Because in the case of the first lane, it's on the guardrail side, but when I put the snow this way, there's a pile of snow on the guardrail side. Then there is a possibility that it melts again and flows into the first lane, and there is a possibility that it freezes again. The same is true for the third order. There are sidewalks and boundary stones, so I put a lot of snow away there. There is a possibility that the snow may melt again and enter the third lane, so it's better to drive in the second lane, or if there are 1st or 2nd lanes, I think it's a way to ensure safety to operate the first lane because the first lane is usually a parking lane.

[Anchor]
It's snow that has more moisture in it. So if it melts and then freezes again, can there be more black ice?

[Yum Gunwoong]
That's right. When we do snow removal, we spray calcium chloride while we do snow removal. The car's tires come into contact with calcium chloride, causing a slush phenomenon. That's why the snow is melting. Naturally, snow melts quickly in places with a lot of traffic. Black ice is likely to form in places with low vehicle traffic, but roads with high vehicle traffic are also more likely to form or generate black ice at night. That's why you have to pay attention. Black ice is actually described as an uninvited guest in winter. It can be very dangerous because ice sheets are created that are invisible enough to be described as uninvited guests on the road.

Because if you look at the video tested by the Korea Expressway Corporation, the speed stops as soon as it stops. But the braking distance increases a lot. So, for example, we brake at 50km. In the case of asphalt, it should be considered that the car can be caught right away when the brakes are applied right away. However, in the case of snow, the braking distance increases by 30m based on 50km/h. However, in the case of icy roads, black ice as we speak, the braking distance increases from about 46.2m when driving at 50km to 47.2m for trucks. So you can think of it as the car continuously being pushed out when you put the brakes on it. Therefore, when such black ice is formed, the risk of a collision is very high, especially in road traffic conditions like this.

[Anchor]
This heavy snow was concentrated in the central inland and western regions. Why is that?

[Reporter]
It's because of the west wind. So I told you that it kept swirling as a strong depression formed to the north. In that case, the west wind will blow toward Korea, and most of the snow clouds have formed in the West Sea. Snow clouds formed in the West Sea came inland on the west wind, mainly in the central inland and west coasts.

[Anchor]
Almost all of the Korean peninsula is covered with snow, but the weather is clearly different as if only Busan is a different country. Why is that?

[Reporter]
It can be seen that the center of the low pressure is formed above North Korea, not South Korea. As I said earlier, it snowed all the way to Gangwon-do while the west wind was blowing. Because Gangwon Province is close to the center of low pressure. However, in the case of Busan, it is quite far from the center of the low pressure. Also, snow clouds should cross something in the middle, but they are blocked by mountain ranges. So, among Korea, only the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do and the southeastern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do are rather sunny. And it's hard to see snow. Even in a narrow space, the weather appears differently according to the change of the barometer according to the surrounding environment.

[Anchor]
Is it possible that the heavily moist snow will continue to repeat itself this winter?

[Reporter]
There was a reason why we had to keep a lot of moisture this time. If you look at the bathhouse, there is a lot of water vapor above the hot water. You can think of it as cold air passing on the hot sea. That's why the strong snow clouds on the west coast were created with a lot of moisture and came into the inland of Korea with the west wind. Will these phenomena occur often this year? These clouds, which now appear to be humid, must not be very low in temperature to hold this much moisture. If it falls below minus 10 degrees Celsius or minus 10 degrees Celsius, it is quite difficult to create this much moist snow and wet snow.

Therefore, it is difficult to see humid snow like that when the temperature drops very low, and the temperature is near 0 degrees, and the snow with a lot of moisture has affected our country. In the future, it's hard to see snow this big in the inland. If you look at it, it's on the west coast or the east coast. Due to the topographical influence, there is a possibility that it will be affected by snow clouds created in the sea. These are areas that suffer a lot of snow damage every winter.

[Anchor]
You said earlier that the rumor is about three times heavier. Please explain in detail how powerful it is.

[Yum Gunwoong]
So assuming that it's 10 meters wide and 10 meters long, it's 100 square meters. Assuming that the wet snow accumulates about 5cm, it weighs about 600kg. However, if you accumulate 15cm, which is three times the weight, it means that it weighs 2 tons. Therefore, in the case of snow with this much moisture compared to snow without moisture, which is called general construction, the density is three times higher in the same space. So the weight is three times higher. You can see it like this.

So, the stagnant front, which should flow from west to east over Korea, is called the low pressure, and because it can't escape, the temperature difference between the atmosphere and the water temperature of the sea kept a lot of water on the west coast and sprayed snow in the central inland. So rather, it didn't snow much on the west coast. In the central inland area, Gyeonggi-do, and Seoul only had nearly 30 to 40 centimeters of snow. When snow clouds are scattered as they move, they contain a lot of moisture, and these eyes eventually show a powerful appearance. Especially when you look at parking lots, when you look at the entrance of the parking lot, you can see tempered glass or plastic
There were also accidents where parking lots collapsed without being able to bear the weight.

There was even an accident where a utility pole collapsed, and the snow on the tree couldn't handle the weight of the snow, so the tree broke and hit the utility pole, causing a utility pole accident and electricity loss. Especially if you look at dangerous areas, greenhouses, and then livestock houses. In the case of weak buildings, the risk of collapse is very high. If you look at it earlier, there was an accident in which some roofs collapsed in one market. Then, in fact, everyone tries to remove snow in the early stages of this collapse. Of course, it would be good to remove snow effectively in the early stages, but if you keep paying attention to these weather conditions and listen to YTN reports, it's a good idea to give up the snow removal work. Rather, give up the snow removal work. Because there is a higher risk of collapse, it's better to give up the snow removal work and evacuate quickly, but I think it would be good if you had a countermeasure. Since the risk of collapse increases, there is a high risk of human accidents caused by additional accidents here.

So, if you put a tape like a safety control line around a roof where snow removal is done and put a notice on it, don't approach it because there is a risk of collapse here, or if you put these things on it while protecting these areas with a safety fence and keeping people away, additional casualties can be prevented. Because in the case of roofs, even if they collapse, they can be restored because it is property damage. However, if a person is injured or killed, it is difficult to recover from the damage. That's why it would be good to be careful of these things.

[Anchor]
You said it's better to evacuate if there's too much snow, but what points should I be careful about when I can clear the snow in the early stages?

[Yum Gunwoong]
The weather forecast keeps coming out. We also get real-time safety messages. Then, I expect it to snow a lot to some extent. And if you look at the real-time weather information, there have been so many variables like this that it has rarely snowed this much. However, since it was a particularly hot summer this year, the water temperature on the west coast was about 2-3 degrees higher. That's the difference from the atmosphere to about 25 to 50 degrees. If you look at the situation where a lot of moisture flows into this snow cloud, there is a possibility that such heavy snow will continue next year and the year after. Then you have to keep in mind that there is definitely a possibility of snow like this in November. Therefore, it is recommended to keep an eye on the weather conditions and keep an eye on the weather conditions, prevent snow removal, evacuate, and take safety measures in the case of continuous heavy snow and heavy snow.

[Anchor]
We also broke news yesterday evening, but a 53-car crash occurred in Wonju, Gangwon-do. The cause is thin ice on the road you mentioned earlier. Is there a place where I should pay more attention to that?

[Reporter]
It's an area where the temperature is low, but it went up on video during the day, but the temperature drops sharply at night. Especially when it's downhill. If it was a normal road, it could have ended up in a few heavy crashes, but since thin ice occurred on the road on the downhill road, it was up to a 53-car crash. It's a form where you applied the brake from the back, but you didn't step on it. Even in the case of Wonju area where traffic accidents occurred, it would have melted to some extent when it snowed a lot during the day. Because the temperature showed the video. However, it's an area where the temperature dropped sharply as it listened to late in the afternoon, in the case of Wonju. In that case, it appears that the melted water freezes again, creating thin ice on the road. Also, because it was getting dark, the phenomenon of continuing to slide even if you brake from behind due to a car that slipped in front of you without being able to see well. So, it seems that a 53-car crash happened, which is rare to see.

[Anchor]
It would be best to have winter equipment, but if not, could you explain these detailed operation methods, such as applying the brake at once, separating, or not turning the steering wheel suddenly in an emergency situation?

[Yum Gunwoong]
It would be nice to switch to snowchain and operate it. But when it suddenly snows like this, it's actually hard to prepare. But there's also a snowchain that you can root on. So I think it'd be good to spray something like that, too. However, the Road Traffic Act stipulates the driving speed when it snows. So if snow builds up to less than 20mm, you have to drive at 80% of the maximum speed. In addition, if the visibility is within 100m or the snow accumulates within 20cm due to heavy snow, it should be driven at a maximum speed of 50% based on when the road surface is frozen. But for example, if the speed limit was 60km, I'm telling you that you can drive at 30km. That's why I'm telling you that you have to cut it in half.

However, it is very difficult for the driver to see how many millimeters have fallen. So, it's best for the driver to judge the road conditions well and basically decelerate. Then, the braking distance increases by about three times. As I told you earlier, if you brake on snow or icy roads, you will not be able to brake about three times and the car will leave, so it would be better to keep three times more apart and keep your distance from the car in front of you. Then, if you look at a situation where a vehicle slides, it is much more effective to brake several times rather than suddenly holding the brake at once.

Then it's important that we brake slowly, but sometimes we use the engine brake on the downhill road. It can be used within 30km, but in the case of low speed, we can lower the gear to the lower end while setting it as D based on Auto and taking off the foot from Excel. The engine brake is then activated. It's good if it works like this. Then the vehicle turns around. There are cases where the car turns when I put the brakes on it. Then the drivers are embarrassed and turn the steering wheel the other way around. You have to keep it in that direction. That way, it turns naturally in that direction and stops as the speed decreases. But if you turn the other way around, the vehicle turns around. So basically, it's better to keep the steering wheel direction the same if the vehicle slides while applying the brake for a short time.

[Anchor]
Many people are suffering from power outages and water cuts as the utility pole suffered damage due to the collapse of trees earlier. In this case, how should I prevent it? Should I continue to clean up the snow that's piled up in the trees?

[Yum Gunwoong]
If you're traveling to India, you should be very careful. Now even trees are dangerous if this practice falls. Because it is a dangerous structure, a tree can be broken and injured, and a tree can shock another structure, causing the structure to collapse. Especially roofs, weak roofs, parking lot roofs, weak buildings. As you can see on the screen, there is a possibility that the roof of a multi-family house may collapse. Because there may be situations where you can't absorb all the impact from the inside, you can't absorb all the weight. So when you pass by, you should be especially careful of trees and various structures that can't beat the weight. There could also be icy roads. Because in the case of roads, snow removal is done, but since I went everywhere today, there are quite a few places where snow removal was not done on the sidewalk. At night, it freezes again and becomes icy, so you should pay attention while walking around these places, go to a bright place, and if possible, go on the main road to ensure safety.

[Anchor]
I'm worried because of the heavy snow from the first snow in the metropolitan area. What is the forecast for snow this winter?

[Reporter]
First of all, it started with the first snow, but the first snow became the worst snow. However, the overall temperature this winter itself is a little higher than usual. Therefore, it is quite unlikely that such heavy snow will fall as we enter December and winter in January. Instead, even in the warmer winter than usual, the Arctic cold is likely to come down once or twice due to the influence of global warming. In that case, as the temperature drops significantly, there is still a possibility of strong snow on the sea, west coast, or east coast.

[Anchor]
There is also snow news early next week, how about this?

[Reporter]
It will snow early next week. The temperature is high. The temperature is very high, so it comes in the afternoon, and since the temperature maintains the video area, it rains a little bit in the winter rain in the central inland and inland areas. Heavy snow remains possible in mountainous areas. However, it is not expected that there will be no major damage because it will continue for about three days like this, but will pass by half a day quickly.

[Anchor]
There are some places where the sun shines during the day, so there are some places where the ice melted. It's going to get cold in the central part of the country tomorrow, so what should I be careful about and how much will it fall?

[Reporter]
It's minus 4 degrees tomorrow morning. In the central part of the country, there are many places where snow melted during this day, but it is not completely dry. There must be a lot of wet places. Especially in the case of back roads and mountain roads, even if you can't see the snow properly, if you're wet, there's a possibility of freezing again because tonight's temperature drops to minus 4 degrees Celsius tomorrow morning. As we kept talking, there is a high possibility of thin ice on the road, so be careful of sliding accidents in the case of vehicles and be careful of falling accidents in the case of passers-by.

[Anchor]
So far, we have talked with Kim Jin-doo, a YTN weather disaster reporter, and Yeom Gun-woong, a professor of police fire administration at Yuwon University. Thank you.