| A white heron rests by the Cheonggyecheon stream during a heat wave, Aug. 4, 2021, central Seoul. Korea Times file photo |
By Lee Hae-rin
Last year, 2021, was the second hottest year recorded in Korea due to climate change, a recent report by the nation's weather agency says.
According to the climate analysis 2021 by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) released Sunday, the average temperature last year was 13.3 degrees Celsius, 0.8 of a degree higher than the average of the previous years. It is the second highest average annual temperature recorded since the weather observation system was introduced nationwide in 1973.
The nation experienced unprecedented high temperatures in spring and fall of last year and the overall temperature rise due to climate change.
According to the analysis of the seasons, the monthly temperature gap was the greatest in January, as the temperature dramatically rose towards the end of the month by 5.4 degrees.
The unusually warm weather in 2021 triggered the earliest cherry blossoms in Seoul since observation started in 1922, on March 24, 15 days earlier than the average year.
The annual precipitation was similar to an average year, at 1,244.5 millimeters, but the monsoon season itself was the third shortest on record ever. The duration of the rainy season stood at 17 days, which is only one-third of the previous year's 54 days.
After the rainy season, heat waves continued during the summer. There were 11.8 days during which the highest temperature was over 33 degrees Celsius, which is higher than both the annual average of 11.0 days, and the 7.7 such days in 2020.
Park Kwang-suk, the head of the KMA said, "Korea was affected by climate change last year, just as Europe had downpours and heavy snow beset North America."