Seoul: South Korea experienced its hottest April since extensive records began in 1973, with the country’s weather agency saying Tuesday that the average daily temperature was 2.5 degrees higher than the previous year.
According to KMA, the previous record was 14.7 degrees in April 1998.
However, the national average temperature in April is 12.1 degrees above the April 1991-2020 average.
The average daily high is also a record high of 21.1 degrees – an increase of 2.5 degrees on average from 1991 to 2020.
April 14 saw higher temperatures as the daytime mercury rose to nearly 30 degrees in the Seoul region and Gangwon Province.
A high pressure current “developed east of the Philippine Sea and Taiwan, resulting in southeast winds flowing to the country in the high pressure area,” KMA said in a statement.
Asia is warming faster than the global average, according to the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.
In the region, much of South and Southeast Asia has recently been reeling from a record-breaking heat wave from Myanmar to the Philippines, with the El Nino phenomenon causing unusually warm weather this year.
In February, the chairman of last year’s COP28 climate talks said the world needed “trillions of dollars” to boost the green transition and fight global warming, warning that political momentum could evaporate without concrete action.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are pushing to launch major reforms to align their debt with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
South Korea records hottest April in half a century
