A cold spell that sent temperatures plunging to the single digits froze water pipes and sparked cold-wave alerts in South Korea, UPI quoted forecasters as saying. The low in Seoul Saturday was 6 degrees and in Cheolwon -- about 50 miles north of Seoul -- the temperature was 3 degrees, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. Strong winds made the temperatures feel much colder, weather officials said. The wind chill in Seoul Saturday was minus 8 degrees while in the northeastern mountainous regions, the wind chill was 25 below zero. The Korea Meteorological Administration, KMA, issued a cold wave watch for the central part of the country and a cold wave alert for the southern part of the nation. The cold weather caused pipes to freeze and break in the Seoul metropolitan area, KMA said. The southwestern part of the country received snow ranging from about 5 inches in Gochang to about 3 inches in Mokpo, a port city about 250 miles southwest of Seoul. The cold snap was expected to continue into Sunday and warm up slightly by noon Monday, the weather agency said.
