Heavy snowfall to lead to severe traffic congestion in afternoon

Meanwhile, here in Korea, it's a snowy third day of the Lunar New Year holiday, and heavy snowfall of three to five centimeters per hour is expected in many areas nationwide, possibly leading to severe traffic congestion in the afternoon.

The Korea Expressway Corporation estimates that a total of 4-point-8 million vehicles are on the move today nationwide, with approximately 440-thousand vehicles traveling from the capital area to other regions, and about 390-thousand vehicles heading toward the capital.

Traffic from the capital area to other regions is expected to peak between 4 PM and 5 PM.

The estimated travel time by car from Seoul is 6 hours to Busan, 5 hours to Daegu, and a little over 3 hours to Gangneung as of 9 AM.

Authorities have issued heavy snow warnings mainly for the capital region, Gangwon, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang-do provinces, and activated the first level of its response system.

More snow is expected until possibly the Lunar New Year on Wednesday.