This Year's Monsoon to End Around Next Monday... Scorching Heat to Return

[Anchor]

This year's monsoon season is effectively coming to an end early next week. While heavy rain and heatwaves are currently alternating by region, full-scale scorching heat is expected to arrive from the latter half of next week after the monsoon retreats.

Reporter Jeong Gu-hui has the details.

[Reporter]

Today (July 23), which marks "Daeseo," the solar term meaning "great heat," a heatwave advisory was issued for Seoul for the first time in nine days since the 14th.

Although the actual temperature was not remarkably high, high humidity drove up the perceived temperature.

[Noh Ji-su / Seocho-gu, Seoul: The weather is so humid that walking outside feels sticky and uncomfortable.]

Heavy rain advisories were issued again today for northern Gyeonggi Province and northern Gangwon Province, with Cheorwon receiving 125 mm of rain in a single day.

As seen from the satellite imagery, a long stretch of rain clouds has been dropping precipitation mainly focused on North Korea, northern Gyeonggi Province, and Gangwon Province.

On the other hand, as the North Pacific high-pressure system positioned itself right beneath these rain clouds, severe heatwaves struck the southern regions, with daytime temperatures in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, soaring up to 37°C (99°F).

When will the monsoon end?

The most crucial factor is the position of this North Pacific high-pressure system, as seen here. When the North Pacific high extends up to the North Korea region, the monsoon front is pushed further north, bringing an end to the rainy season.

Until tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, the monsoon front will not have fully retreated, bringing rain to the metropolitan area near North Korea, Gangwon Province, and parts of Chungcheong Province. On Sunday, monsoon rains are expected to continue in the central regions and North Gyeongsang Province.

The Korea Meteorological Administration predicts that with this final round of rain, the North Pacific high will expand and push the monsoon front entirely up toward North Korea, effectively ending this year's monsoon around next Monday.

Jeju Island has already been analyzed to have ended its monsoon season last Sunday.

Starting from the latter half of next week, the Tibetan high and the North Pacific high are expected to double-cover the Korean Peninsula once again, causing temperatures to soar high.

However, as seen in the past where extreme downpours exceeding 100 mm per hour hit certain regions after the monsoon ended, sometimes resulting in August precipitation levels higher than those of the monsoon season, localized heavy downpours still require close vigilance.

(Video reporting: Kim Young-hwan, Video editing: Cho Mu-hwan, Design: Cho Su-in)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.