Pedestrians hurry to work bundled in thick coats at Gwanghwamun Intersection in Seoul on Dec. 22, 2022 when a chilly wave swept throughout the nation. Korea Instances photograph by Koh Younger-kwon
By KTimes
In June, professor Kim Hae-dong at Keimyung College, a meteorologist, predicted that summer season temperatures may exceed 40 levels Celsius this yr.
His forecast proved correct when the temperature in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, reached 40 levels on Aug. 4.
Now, Kim warns that this winter may convey chilly waves with temperatures dropping beneath minus 18 levels Celsius.
“This winter is predicted to be very chilly. I anticipate that it’ll observe the same sample to the winters of 2021 and 2022, the place temperatures fell beneath minus 18 levels. This forecast will not be solely mine. Worldwide organizations have made related observations,” he stated in an interview with CBS.
Kim cited the recurrence of the La Nina phenomenon, which additionally occurred in 2021, as the first cause for his prediction. La Nina is characterised by sea floor temperatures within the equatorial Pacific being at the very least 0.5 levels Celsius decrease than the common for greater than 5 months.
When La Nina happens, a low-pressure system develops southeast of Japan, inflicting chilly and dry air from the north to circulation into the Korean Peninsula, which lies to the west of the Japanese archipelago.
“As we transfer from fall into winter this yr, the chance of La Nina occurring may be very excessive. If it does, the possibilities of a powerful Arctic chilly wave descending on the Korean Peninsula and North America additionally enhance,” he stated.
“In 2021 and 2022, we skilled excessive chilly, with temperatures dropping beneath minus 18 levels in Korea. In america, even Texas, recognized for its delicate local weather, was hit by a chilly wave that brought on widespread water and energy outages,” he defined. “I count on this winter to be much like these years.”
A flood barrier manufactured from sandbags is about up at an residence complicated in Seocho District, Seoul, to arrange for Storm Hinnamnor in early September 2022. Korea Instances photograph by Choi Joo-yeon
Kim additionally commented on the latest heavy rainfall within the southern areas of Korea, decoding it as an extension of the “fall monsoon.”
“The monsoon sample in Korea has fully modified. We now obtain extra rain throughout this era, which coincides with the autumn monsoon, reasonably than through the conventional summer season monsoon season,” he stated.
He famous that the latest state of affairs is much like the heavy rains that flooded Gangnam in Seoul just a few years in the past, however this time, it was worsened by the affect of a storm, leading to rainfall ranges seen solely as soon as each 200 years.
“This yr, we are going to probably see little of what we usually affiliate with fall. The present excessive temperatures are anticipated to persist till at the very least early November, after which a sudden drop in temperatures is anticipated,” he stated. “In consequence, it’s going to really feel as if fall barely occurred.”
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, a sister publication of The Korea Instances, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Instances.
