Sleepless Nights Hit Record High... What Does the Data Say About August? [Fact Check]

[Anchor]

As the heat fails to subside even after the sun sets, this summer has seen an unusually high number of sleepless nights. A comprehensive analysis of historical tropical night data reveals that in years when July night heat was severe, tropical nights invariably persisted into August.

Reporter Lee Gyeong-won brings us the details in Fact Check.

[Reporter]

Nights have been just as exhausting as the days this summer. Since nationwide weather observation statistics began in 1973, the national average number of tropical nights for the month of July exceeded 9 days this year for the first time.

This is an all-time high.

[Choi In-gyu / Gangseo-gu, Seoul: In the past, tropical nights would let up and then return, but nowadays it just stays as a tropical night straight through....]

[Kang Hyo-ja / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: It is worrying. This summer, August is getting even hotter than it was back then....]

What you are looking at now is the historical ranking of tropical night days in July.

The year before last recorded the highest frequency, followed by 1994 and 2018, which were marked by historic heatwaves.

Looking closely at the rankings for August, they almost completely align.

The frequency of tropical nights in July and August are intertwined like this.

In particular, tropical nights in August were on average about 18% more frequent than in July, because the influence of the North Pacific High grows stronger.

We also analyzed the trends by year.

The average number of tropical nights in August was a mere 2.9 days in the 2000s, but it more than doubled to 6.9 days in the 2020s.

Climate anomalies are nothing new, but the recent surge has been exceptionally sharp.

By region, cities saw large increases. For instance, Seoul jumped from an average of 6.1 days to 15.2 days, meaning nowadays about half of August consists of tropical nights.

The Korea Meteorological Administration analyzed that sea surface temperatures have risen significantly recently, which prevents the ground from cooling properly at night, leading to prolonged tropical nights.

Over the past five years, the number of heat-related illness patients occurring during the evening and early morning hours has surged more than threefold.

While detailed forecasts for tropical nights this coming August are scientifically difficult and subject to many variables, the tendencies in past data clearly show that more thorough preparations than ever are necessary.

(Camera: Seol Min-hwan | Video Editing: Jang Hyun-ki | Design: Lim Chan-hyuk | Writer: Kim Hyo-jin | Intern: Park Geun-ho, Hwang Chae-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.