CONCLUSION
16-17 Cold Wave
The cold front from the Arctic extended across eastern Siberia,
forming a strong downdraft in the northwest of the Korean Peninsula.
Accordingly, the high pressure in the Arctic region rapidly strengthened, and cold air moved south to our country.
This caused a high-pressure to develop centered over Mongolia and Manchuria, and cold air flew strongly into Korea across the northwest wind.
As a cold core below -35℃ approached Korea in the upper atmosphere, the cold wave intensified, and atmospheric instability added, causing a sudden drop in temperature with strong winds across the country.
18 Heavy Snow
In mid-March, cold air from the Arctic traveled southward across the 500hPa high-level trough to the Korean Peninsula, rapidly cooling the atmosphere due to the cold air.
At the same time, a large air-sea temperature difference was formed between the relatively warm sea surface and the strong cold air at the top in the West Sea, which caused strong convective activity.
Due to this, the low-pressure circulation that developed over the West Sea was quickly triggered on land and grew into a West Sea low-pressure (extreme low-pressure).
The cold air below -40℃ in the upper level and the relatively warm and moist air in the middle and lower level collided to create a powerful snow cloud belt that affects the entire country.
As a result, the West Sea low pressure and upper-level cold air cooperated to produce heavy snowfall of 3 to 5 cm per hour in most parts of the country, and snowfall of more than 10 cm was recorded in the metropolitan area and the central region.
This is a typical case of extreme low pressure type heavy snowfall, and it can be said to be a complex atmospheric instability structure that is occurred due to the strong instability of the upper and lower levels, air-sea temperature difference, and the influence of the upper-level low pressure trough.