Monsoon season officially over, but more rain likely

Vacationers enjoy Gangmun Beach in Gangneung, Gangwon, on Wednesday as the national weather agency announced an official end to this year’s monsoon season. [YONHAP]

The monsoon season might be finally over, officially speaking. Yet rainy days will likely linger.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Park Jung-hwan, a weather analyst at the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), said that climatic conditions indicate this year’s monsoon ended for Jeju Island on Tuesday and for the southern and central regions on Wednesday after a nearly month-long streak.

“As the North Pacific high-pressure system expands northward, the stationary front [monsoon front] is expected to gradually move northward from Korea’s central region,” said Park.

But that doesn’t mean there won’t be any more rain for the rest of the summer.

Yoo Hee-dong, head of the KMA, urged the public to remain vigilant.

“The precipitation patterns of Korea’s summer season have been changing lately, so even if the monsoon season ends, we could still see heavy rains due to factors like typhoons or localized heavy rainstorms,” Yoo warned.

As early as on Thursday, some areas across the country could experience showers of up to 30 to 60 millimeters (1.2 to 2.4 inches) per hour, the KMA said.

In early August, torrential rains coupled with strong winds could impact the country as well, depending on the influence of typhoons and their travel routes.

With the monsoon season over, days and weeks of sweltering heat will likely follow, pushing temperatures in most areas to 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit) or above.

According to the KMA, this year’s monsoon season officially lasted for 31 days, which is similar to previous years.

However, the total amount of rainfall during that period was 648.7 millimeters, making it the third largest ever recorded since the weather agency began keeping track of the data in 1973.

The largest was in 2006 when 704 millimeters were recorded, followed by 701.4 millimeters in 2020.

Considering that the years 2006 and 2020 had longer monsoon seasons than this year, officials said 2023 will go down in history as having had the most intense monsoon season ever.

At least 47 people died this month during the monsoon, mostly in North Gyeongsang and North Chungcheong, as rains battered the central and southern regions, causing severe flooding.

In Cheongju, North Chungcheong, 14 fatalities were traced to an underpass as a nearby river overflowed into the tunnel on July 15, trapping 17 vehicles inside, including a bus.

Prosecutors and police have launched separate investigations into the accident, as the Office for Government Policy Coordination blamed the Heungdeok Police Precinct for ignoring red flags.

BY CHON KWON-PIL, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]