The Seoul city government will issue its first advisory on frozen water meters for this winter, as temperatures are expected to drop to minus 12 degrees Celsius on Friday morning.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on Thursday that an alert will be in place as of 9 a.m. Friday, with “alert” representing the third-highest notch in its four-tier warning system for the freezing of water meters.

Once the alert is in place, the Seoul government will run a situation room around the clock to devise emergency measures to tackle frozen water meters, together with the city’s eight waterworks offices and the Seoul Facilities Corporation.

As of Tuesday, 242 cases of frozen water meters had been reported in the capital city this winter.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said a cold wave warning will be issued from 9 p.m. Thursday for Cheorwon and Yanggu counties in Gangwon Province as well as Yeoncheon County and Paju City in Gyeonggi Province. 

A cold wave watch will be issued for the central region, including Seoul, as well as North Chungcheong and North Gyeongsang provinces. 

A cold wave warning is issued when morning lows are forecast to drop by more than 15 degrees Celsius for two consecutive days, while a cold wave watch is issued when lows are set to stay below minus 12 degrees Celsius for two straight days.