The mercury plunged to roughly minus ten degrees Celsius in Seoul and surrounding regions on Friday morning, marking the coldest day of winter so far this year.

Temperatures fell below zero in most parts of the nation's southern regions and a cold wave watch was issued for Gangwon Province and the northern parts of Gyeonggi Province.

The wind chill in the central region dropped to around 15 degrees Celsius.

Mountainous regions in Gwangju, Jeju and the western parts of the Jeolla Provinces have been seeing snow pile up, and a heavy snow watch remains in place.

The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast that an additional one to five centimeters of snow will fall in the inland areas of the Jeolla Provinces and in South Chungcheong Province, while snow is expected to pile up five to 15 centimeters in Jeju’s mountainous regions until Saturday.