Seoul drenched with five times normal rainfall

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Seoul drenched with five times normal rainfall

If you have the feeling it’s poured every day since the monsoon hit Korea, you’re just about right.

And as a result, Seoul has had five times more rainfall since June 22 than in average years.

“The biggest difference with this year’s monsoon is that it’s rainy almost every day,” Kim Seung-bae, spokesman for the Korea Meteorological Administration, said by telephone yesterday.

“The power struggle between warm and humid air from the south and cold air from north, which created the seasonal rain front in Korea, is stronger than usual, creating heavy rains,” he said.

Since the monsoon began in Seoul on June 22, the city has been drenched with 571 millimeters (22.4 inches) through Sunday, five times the 30-year average of 89.5 millimeters, the weather agency said yesterday.

The agency forecast that the central region of Korea will see 250 millimeters of more rain until Friday, sometimes 30 to 50 millimeters per hour with thunderstorms.

Heavy rains will stop temporarily in the afternoon tomorrow, but start again at night.

“The rain front will move to North Korea Friday,” Kim said. “But, we can’t be sure the rainy season is over, because the front could come back to the South again.”

The monsoon season usually ends in mid-July.

A jet stream from the West that pushed the southern hot air toward Korea made the rains stronger, the agency explained, and higher temperatures due to global warming triggered more showers in metropolitan cities.

Mount Baekun in Gwangyang, South Jeolla, had about 500 millimeters of rain over the weekend. Hot air from the Pacific Ocean became trapped over the mountain causing the rainfall.

Asked if the unusual rainfall was a sign of global warming, Kim said, “We can’t say now that all Korean regions are becoming a subtropical zone, but at least Jeju Island and southern coastal regions are showing such signs.”

At least 12 people died and three were missing in torrential rains and landslides, authorities said yesterday.

Nearly 380 residents lost their houses and 35,216 hectares of rice paddies and 314.9 hectares of vinyl greenhouses were damaged. Out of 76 roads destroyed by the monsoon, 25 were being repaired.

Seventy-one streams and rivers were flooded nationwide.


By Kim Hee-jin [heejin@joongang.co.kr]


한글 관련 기사 [연합]

[내일날씨] 중부 최고 250mm 비

수요일인 13일 중부지방은 계속 장마전선의 영향을 받겠고 남부지방은 북태평양고기압의 가장자리에 들겠다고 기상청이 12일 예보했다.

중부지방은 흐리고 비(강수확률 70~90%)가 오겠으며, 남부지방은 구름이 많은 가운데 대기 불안정으로 인해 낮에 소나기(강수확률 60~70%)가 오는 곳이 있겠다.

장마전선은 당분간 중부지방에 머물며 강약을 반복하면서 오늘부터 내일까지 서울과 경기도, 강원도 중북부지방을 중심으로 돌풍과 함께 천둥·번개를 동반한 시간당 50mm 이상의 매우 강한 비와 최고 250mm 이상의 많은 비를 뿌리겠다.

아침 최저기온은 19도에서 25도, 낮 최고기온은 24도에서 31도가 되겠다.

바다의 물결은 전해상에서 0.5~2.5m로 일겠다.

다음은 13일 지역별 날씨 전망. [오전,오후] (최저∼최고기온) <오전·오후 강수 확률>

▲ 서울 :[흐리고 비, 흐리고 비] (21∼25) < 90, 60 >

▲ 인천 :[흐리고 비, 흐리고 비] (21∼24) < 90, 70 >

▲ 수원 :[흐리고 비, 흐리고 비] (21∼25) < 90, 60 >

▲ 춘천 :[흐리고 비, 흐리고 비] (21∼25) < 90, 80 >

▲ 강릉 :[흐리고 비, 흐리고 가끔 비] (20∼25) < 80, 80 >

▲ 청주 :[흐리고 한때 비, 흐리고 가끔 비] (22∼27) < 60, 70 >

▲ 대전 :[흐리고 한때 비, 흐리고 가끔 비] (22∼27) < 60, 70 >

▲ 전주 :[흐림, 흐리고 가끔 비] (22∼30) < 30, 60 >

▲ 광주 :[구름많음, 구름많고 한때 비] (25∼31) < 20, 60 >

▲ 대구 :[흐리고 한때 비, 흐리고 가끔 비] (23∼29) < 60, 60 >

▲ 부산 :[흐림, 흐리고 한때 비] (23∼28) < 30, 60 >

▲ 울산 :[흐림, 흐리고 한때 비] (22∼28) < 30, 60 >

▲ 창원 :[흐림, 흐리고 가끔 비] (23∼28) < 30, 60 >

▲ 제주 : [구름많음, 구름많음] (25∼30) < 20, 20 >

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