Seoul, Dec 16 (IANS): South Korea will come under the grip of the season's coldest weather later this week, with the morning lows dipping to minus 9 degrees in Seoul and minus 15 degrees in some inland areas, the state weather agency said on Thursday.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said that the freezing temperatures will be accompanied by snow, which is forecast to begin in central and western coastal areas on Friday and spread to the greater Seoul area and almost all central regions over the weekend, reports Yonhap News Agency.

It did not rule out the possibility of heavy snowfall in some regions.

Temperatures will drop sharply late Thursday night, when cold air from the northwest moves south toward South Korea, leading to the severe cold during the following three days, the KMA said.

The weather agency forecast that the western regions, in particular, will see a lot of snow as the cold air will pass over the relatively warm Yellow Sea.

Snow will begin to fall in the central western coastal areas early Friday morning and spread to many other parts of the country before stopping on Sunday morning.

It predicted 5 to 15 cm of snow in the southwestern provinces of Jeolla, Jeju Island and Ulleung Island, and 3 to 8 cm of snow in the central province of South Chungcheong and 1 to 5 cm elsewhere.

The KMA said temperatures will return to the seasonal averages beginning Sunday afternoon.

Temperatures will then remain above the 30-year averages from December 20 until taking a dive on Christmas Day, the agency predicted.