A Warmer Korean Peninsula... Longer Spring and Summer, Shorter Winter

Average Temperature Over the Past 30 Years Rises by 0.3°C Compared to 10 Years Ago
Spring and Summer Lengthen by 4 Days Each, Winter Shortens by 7 Days

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Over the past 30 years, the national average temperature has risen to 12.8 degrees Celsius, which is 0.3 degrees higher than the normal value calculated 10 years ago. Spring and summer have become longer, while winter has shortened.

On the 25th, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) announced the climate normals for 1991?2020, which represent the average temperature and precipitation over the past 30 years. Climate normals are baseline climate values calculated every 10 years according to the standards of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Until now, the climate normals from 1981?2010, announced in 2011, have been used.

Climate normals serve as reference indicators in various fields such as disaster prevention, construction, and agriculture and forestry, in addition to climate change analysis and prediction. The new climate normals will be applied starting in April.

Looking at the new climate normals announced by the KMA, the annual average temperature has increased by 0.3 degrees compared to the previous normals, and the 10-year average temperature has risen by 0.9 degrees compared to the 1980s.

With global warming causing temperatures to rise nationwide, the temperature increase was more pronounced in the central inland regions. Temperature increases were observed every month, with the rise in minimum temperatures being particularly notable. According to the new normals, the nationwide minimum temperature is 8.0 degrees Celsius, which is 0.3 degrees higher than the previous normals.

Temperatures in major cities nationwide rose by 0.3 to 0.4 degrees compared to the previous normals. In Seoul, the temperature is 12.8 degrees, matching the national average, while Jeju recorded 16.2 degrees and Busan 15.0 degrees, both higher than other major cities.

Over the past 30 years, the number of heatwave days increased by 1.7 days to 11.8 days, and tropical night days increased by 1.9 days to 7.2 days. The number of cold wave days decreased by 0.9 days to 4.8 days. In the past 10 years, heatwave days reached 14.9 days and tropical nights 9.9 days, which are more pronounced than the new normals.

Climate change has also altered the length of the seasons. Spring and summer have each lengthened by 4 days compared to the previous normals. According to the new normals, spring lasts from March 1 to May 30 (91 days), whereas the previous normals defined spring as March 7 to June 1 (87 days). Summer is from June 2 to September 23 (114 days), which is longer than the previous summer period of May 31 to September 25 (118 days).

Spring is defined as starting on the first day when the daily average temperature rises above 5 degrees Celsius, and summer begins on the first day when it rises above 20 degrees Celsius and does not fall again. Autumn starts on the first day when the temperature falls below 20 degrees Celsius, and winter begins on the first day when it falls below 5 degrees Celsius and does not rise again.

Annual precipitation nationwide is 1306.3 mm, similar to the previous normals, but precipitation in spring and autumn has increased due to frequent typhoons in October. Summer precipitation (710.9 mm) accounts for 54% of the annual total.

Sea surface temperature near the Korean Peninsula is 17.9 degrees Celsius, 0.3 degrees higher than the previous normals. The East Asian sea surface temperature is 15.6 degrees Celsius, 0.2 degrees higher. The surrounding sea temperature of Korea rose by 0.8 degrees around 2010, with the largest increase of 1.4 degrees occurring in January.

The new climate normals will be used as reference information for selecting crop types and sowing times, disaster prevention standards, and energy supply management. Climate normals are available on the Meteorological Data Open Portal and can be compared with previous normals.

Park Kwang-seok, Administrator of the Korea Meteorological Administration, stated, "Climate normals are a new standard in the era of climate change, so we must adapt to climate change in various fields by aligning with these new normals." He added, "We will do our best to produce and provide more diverse analytical data to improve the utilization of meteorological and climate data."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.