Seoul’s Han River froze for the first time this winter season amid the persistent cold snap.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said ice formed on the river Saturday, 37 days earlier than last winter and a week early compared with the seasonal average. 

The Han River normally freezes when the daily low drops to minus ten degrees Celsius or lower in Seoul for five days or more, while the daily high remains below freezing.

The morning low in the capital on Saturday was minus nine-point-eight degrees.

Observations of ice formation on the river began in 1906, and the earliest first freeze on record was December 4, 1934, while the latest was February 13, 1964.