SEOUL: A streak of super-hot tropical nights is set to break a century-old South Korean weather record, according to official data released on Wednesday (Aug 14), as the peninsula bakes in a prolonged heat wave.
North Korean authorities also issued a warning over “fierce heat” with temperatures of up to 37 degrees Celsius, as AFP images showed Pyongyang residents using umbrellas and portable fans to keep cool.
Much of the world is enduring a summer of extreme heat, with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning last month that humanity is suffering an “extreme heat epidemic” and calling for action to limit the impacts of heat waves intensified by climate change.
The so-called tropical nights phenomenon refers to when the temperature does not drop below 25 degrees Celsius overnight, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
Seoul experienced its 24th consecutive tropical night into Wednesday, marking the second-longest streak since modern weather observation began in 1907.
With forecasters saying the heat wave is set to continue into next week, the country will likely break the record – 26 consecutive days – by Saturday.
According to data from Seoul’s interior ministry, 21 people have died from suspected heat-related causes so far this year, with hundreds of thousands of livestock also perishing.
The intense heat has led to the cancellation of three professional baseball games in the South this month, the first such cancellations in the league’s 43-year history.
South Korea’s temperature is “rising at a steep pace”, Chang Dong-eon, the head of the Korean Meteorological Administration told the Yonhap news agency, adding that “signs of climate change on the peninsula are stronger” than elsewhere.
“The average temperature of the Korean peninsula over the past three decades (1991 to 2020) has risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius compared to the 1981 to 2010 period,” Chang said.
