Cool Summer Nights

Hat tip to ROK Drop, an article published at the end of July in the Chosun Ilbo brings attention to some interesting climate differences noted in this year's summer:

Sleepless tropical nights seem to have disappeared from Korea as the climate becomes more unpredictable. The Korea Meteorological Administration on Monday said Seoul saw an average of 8.8 nights when temperatures did not fall below 25 degrees Celsius from 2000 to 2008, but there has been only one tropical night so far this year.

Since 2000, Busan averaged 13.8 tropical nights during the summer until last year, but the southern city has had just one tropical night this summer. Daegu has had three against usual average of 17.9, and Jeju just 11 against 27.1 on average, the KMA said. Chuncheon and Daejeon did not see a single one so far.

The KMA finds the reason in the prolonged stay of a cold air mass from the north over the Korean Peninsula, which suppressed expansion of the North Pacific anticyclone from the south that brings sweltering heat to Korea. Jin Gee-beom, the chief of the weather forecast bureau at the KMA, said, "The Okhotsk Sea anticyclone has been especially strong this year, so the weather in Korea has been heavily influenced by cold wind from northeast. The cold air mass stays in the upper sky, and when the temperature rises during the day, it creates sudden showers and keeps temperature cool during the night."

Even though it has been cooler at night here, we've still had a lot of beautiful days of sunshine, which have been perfect for days at the beach. I just hope this doesn't mean cooler weather leading into the fall and winter...