The climate in South Korea

Climate zone: Subtropics of the northern hemisphere

The climate in South Korea widely corresponds to the German weather conditions. It is cold, wet and a few beautiful summer months are also happening. A beach holiday can be enjoyed in the warmer season with water temperatures up to 24 degrees. Due to the warmer temperatures the best time for traveling is from June to September. Nearly unattractive for tourists are the cold months from November to March.

› Duration of daylight and sunshine in South Korea

Temperature records of the last 70 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1951 to June 2021 was reported by the Chuncheon weather station. In August 2018 the record temperature of 39.5 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 9 weather stations in South Korea , was recorded in 1994 with an average temperature of 25.9 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every 4 to 6 hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 24.0 degrees Celsius.

The coldest day in these 70 years was reported by the weather station Chuncheon. Here the temperature dropped to -24.5 °C in January 2001. Chuncheon lies at an altitude of 79 meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1951 with an average temperature of -0.6 °C. In South Korea, it is usual to have about 4.0 degrees more at 3.4 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in August 2002. With 36.7 mm per day, the Gangneung weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 70 years. Incidentally, the region with the most rainfall for the whole year is around Busan. The driest region is near Mokpo.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1990 - 2020

In contrast to single record values, a long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. A simply calculated average value would give a falsified result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would already decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and falsifies the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 3 measuring points in order to have actually comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1990 to 2020 there were only these 3 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values (Busan, Gangneung, Mokpo). From these weather reports we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was 1994 with 28.1 °C. 2011 was the coldest month with an average temperature of -1.9 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 14.1 °C in the years after 1990 and about 14.6 °C in the last years before 2020. It has therefore increased only slightly by about 0.5 °C over the past 31 years. This trend only applies to the selected 3 weather stations in South Korea. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of the global warming has been provided separately.




More detailed information on global warming with a view by continent can also be found on our topic page on climate change. Data basis: German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements.