Hottest summers in South Korea 1973-2024, by heat wave days

In 2018, South Korea recorded its hottest summer since 1973, with 31 heat-wave days. Heatwaves with maximum temperatures above 33 degrees Celsius usually occur after the rainy season in summer. In recent years, not only the frequency of heatwaves has increased, but also their intensity.

Summer in South Korea

Summer in South Korea (from June to August) is usually hot and humid with a lot of rainfall during the rainy season of the East Asian monsoon (Changma). About 60 percent of precipitation falls during this season. The average temperature in summer was around 24.7 degrees Celsius in 2023. The amount of precipitation in summer that year stood over one meter, more than four times higher than in winter. 

Climate change

South Korea is known for its four distinct seasons, yet weather patterns have increasingly changed in recent decades, resulting in longer summers and shorter winters. This shows that South Korea is not excluded from the effects of climate change. Changing climate patterns in recent decades have also led to an intensification of precipitation and more heatwaves in South Korea. Meanwhile, climate change is taken very seriously by South Koreans: about 48 percent of respondents to a 2019 survey said that global warming or climate change is the most important environmental issue for South Korea.