"Sudden Downpour at Dawn": Water Levels Surge in an Instant, More Heavy Rain Expected Overnight

[Anchor]

Let's talk more about the weather with Seo Donggyun from our weather team.

Seo, the rain was so intense overnight that it was enough to wake people up. Why did so much rain fall all at once?

[Reporter]

First, let's take a look at how much rain fell overnight.

This is a diagram showing the cumulative precipitation from yesterday, July 17, to today, July 18.

The darker the color on the screen, the heavier the rainfall.

In Korea, heavy rain was concentrated mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area and Gangwon Province.

In particular, heavy rain was concentrated in the northern parts of Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces.

Over the past two days, nearly 200mm of very heavy rain has poured down in northern Gyeonggi Province.

The problem is that this large amount of rain was concentrated in a short period of time.

Early this morning, Seoul saw downpours of 50mm to 60mm per hour at one point.

Let's take the Jungnang Stream in Seoul as an example.

This is what the Jungnang Stream looked like yesterday morning.

You can see people peacefully walking along the riverside trail.

However, as heavy rain fell overnight, the stream overflowed, and you can see that the trails and vegetation are now completely submerged.

The cause of this heavy rain is the formation of a monsoon front centered over the central region, where warm, humid air moving up from the south met dry air coming down from the north.

A low-pressure system added to this, causing even more rain.

Due to the influence of this low-pressure system, a large amount of water vapor was brought in via a low-level jet stream overnight, which allowed the rain clouds to develop more explosively.

[Anchor]

I see. Is more heavy rain also forecast for tonight?

[Reporter]

During the day today, there was some sunshine and many areas saw a lull in the rain. However, as the monsoon front moves southward starting this afternoon, heavy rain is forecast for tonight, mainly in the southern regions.

In particular, the low-pressure system will re-intensify, acting as a source of water vapor overnight.

Let's look at the expected precipitation.

More than 150mm is forecast for the northern part of North Gyeongsang Province, over 120mm for the Chungcheong, Honam, and Gangwon regions, and around 100mm for the southern regions.

In particular, downpours of 30mm to 50mm per hour are expected in the southern regions overnight, so please be careful to avoid safety accidents.

The rain will continue into next week.

For the Seoul metropolitan area, the rain will continue until Saturday, July 18, and for the rest of the country, it will continue until next Friday, July 24.

However, please note that medium-term forecasts are subject to high variability, so you should refer to the latest updates.

(Design: Kim Min-young, Park Tae-young)

※