KB News Desk
Yangsan city, South Gyeongsang Province, broke its own record Friday for the highest temperature ever recorded through South Korea’s standard weather observation system.
The city in the southeastern region recorded 41.4 degrees Celsius as of 1:40 p.m., surpassing the 40-degree mark for the third straight day since Wednesday. The daily highs on Wednesday and Thursday were 41.3 C, which before Friday were the highest figures ever recorded by Korea’s Automated Synoptic Observing System.
The ASOS comprises 97 standardized weather observation points across the country to record official tallies.
Friday’s temperature in Yangsan was among the highest ever recorded in South Korea, ranking fourth overall when including temperatures detected by the Automatic Weather System.
The AWS is an automated system implemented in 1988 to augment the ASOS. While it is also a state-authorized weather observation system, its data is not used for official tallies by the Korea Meteorological Administration.
Even including the AWS figures, the regional temperature in Korea surpassed Yangsan’s 41.3 degrees on only three previous occasions: 41.9 C in Jiwol-ri, Gwangju, on Aug. 1., 2018; 41.8 C in Gangbuk-gu, Seoul, on the same day; and 41.6 C in Geumsa-myeon in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 4, 2024.
This year marks only the third time a daily high in any region reached 40 C or above for the third straight day. Both previous cases were in 2018, one of the hottest summers on record.
The KMA has projected heat waves to continue at least until Aug. 2, with daily highs ranging from 32 C to 38 C.
