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🇰🇷 South Korea /Environment & Climate

South Korea Endures Its Third-Hottest Summer on Record as Heat, Drought and Heavy Rain Form a Compound Disaster

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement Ongoing story
  • South Korea recorded its third-hottest summer since nationwide observations began in 1973, with an average temperature of 25.4°C, 1.7°C above normal.
  • Extreme conditions shifted by region and timing, including 42.5°C in Yangsan, prolonged drought in the south and 968.1 millimeters of rain in Geoje over four days.
  • The Korea Meteorological Administration said a strong El Niño could develop during autumn, peak late in 2026 and continue through February 2027.

South Korea’s summer moved from extreme heat to drought and then torrential rain, producing the kind of rapid, overlapping weather pattern that the Korea Meteorological Administration described as a compound disaster. The June-to-August season ranked third hottest on record, behind 2025 and 2024.

This summer clearly showed a compound-disaster pattern, with different extreme climate phenomena occurring in succession over a short period depending on the region.

· Korea Meteorological AdministrationThe administration summarized the sequence of heat, drought and heavy rain.

The nationwide average temperature reached 25.4°C, or 1.7°C above normal. Heat intensified from mid-July, with parts of South Gyeongsang Province recording daytime temperatures above 40°C in late July and early August. Yangsan reached 42.5°C on August 2, the highest daily maximum ever recorded in the country. Gumi, Miryang and Daegu each recorded more than 40 heatwave days.

Early August was the most extreme period. The nationwide average temperature for the first 10 days of the month ranked first in the historical record, while the new severe heatwave warning threshold of 39°C or higher was reached 42 times. Persistent nighttime heat pushed the national average to 18.2 tropical nights, the second-highest figure recorded. The summer’s total heatwave days reached 21.5, ranking sixth.

The risks of regional polarization and compound disasters were clear.

· Lee Mi-sun, Korea Meteorological Administration chiefLee described the broader risk pattern observed during the summer.

Rainfall was uneven. The monsoon started late and ended quickly, with the stationary front concentrated mainly over central regions. Southern areas and Jeju received only 41.9% and 33.2% of their normal monsoon rainfall, leaving much of South Gyeongsang Province in drought from early July. Conditions then reversed: Geoje received 968.1 millimeters in four days in late August, including 124.5 millimeters in a single hour on August 17. The administration said surrounding sea-surface temperatures averaged 24.3°C, the highest in the past decade, and forecast that the current El Niño would strengthen through autumn.

The weekly average sea-surface temperature anomaly in the El Niño monitoring region increased from 2.2°C to 2.6°C.

· World Meteorological OrganizationThe WMO cited the rise in ocean temperatures as El Niño strengthened.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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