■ Cast: Ki-Sung Ban / Head of K-Weather Center
* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate content.
[앵커]
Last weekend was so hot it was hard to breathe. Let’s solve weather related questions one by one with experts.
Ki-Sung Ban, the head of K-Weather Center. welcome.
[앵커]
I was wondering if it would be okay if I just endured last weekend, but it’s quite hot today, isn’t it?
[반기성]
That’s right. A heat wave warning has been issued nationwide today, and the highest heat wave warning area in the heat wave advisory was also issued as a heat wave warning area for Seoul, eastern Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and then Yeongnam. This area becomes such a hot area with maximum temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius.
So, rather than yesterday, the temperature today is higher up to now, and in Seoul, it is rising faster.
[앵커]
We prepared a map, but it’s saying that the darker-colored areas are much hotter.
[반기성]
That area is the area where an alert has been issued. It’s a pink to dark area. Since warnings have been issued for slightly shallow areas, it can be said that a heat wave warning has been issued for the entire country and the entire country in the case of today.
[앵커]
Typhoon Airi, the 4th typhoon, is expected to bypass Korea and go directly to Japan. But is it predicted that the heat wave will get worse because of this?
[반기성]
In fact, when we first made the forecast, we thought it would rain in the southern part of the country as it came near Korea.
So, in fact, it rained slightly more than normal in the central region, but in the southern region it was a little family-oriented, so I thought that it would be helpful in terms of water resources.
The force of the typhoon itself is also very weak. The problem is that the North Pacific high pressure is expanding and rising from the upper layers of our country, and even if it is weak anyway, the typhoon will stop and pass. Even so, the force of the typhoon is so weak that it does not seem to be able to stop the expanding force.
So, even if the North Pacific high pressure force is expected to weaken somewhat during this week as it passes through Korea and enters Japan tomorrow, it will expand again on the 6th. So this week, it is expected that the hot weather will continue until today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow.
[앵커]
However, although it is said that it is difficult to accurately predict the course of a typhoon, why does it change so suddenly?
[반기성]
In fact, typhoons move along the axis of the North Pacific high pressure. So, in the case of such a weak typhoon, it usually moves along the 3km altitude line.
According to the original forecast, a slightly higher elevation line would be attached to the Korean side, but the elevation line of 3km was slightly lower than expected to the south. So that’s what led me to go that way.
[앵커]
Now that the weather is fickle, it is difficult to predict. We have compiled three questions related to the weather. Let’s look at the graphic we prepared first.
I think the graphics aren’t ready yet, so I’ll let you know as soon as they come in. It’s a heat wave, and today’s felt temperature rises to 35 degrees. Now, a lot of people are asking, how long do you have to endure this? This is the part.
[반기성]
First of all, it will rain again this week from Thursday to Friday. Since it is raining, today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow will be quite hot this week. After that, it will rain once on Thursday and Friday, and it will be slightly hot again on Saturday and Sunday, and then it will be affected by the rainy season from Sunday.
We are currently in the rainy season in terms of temperature. But this year, the North Pacific high pressure expanded rapidly, which is quite unusual, and that’s why it is being affected.
[앵커]
I wonder if the heat won’t subside if it rains, but if the heat wave continues, there will be a period of rain, right? When will it rain?
[반기성]
In the case of this week, the air mass is unstable until today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, so it will be very hot and rain showers. But it’s not rainy season. First, 7 days and 8 days. First of all, it’s neck and gold. It is expected to be affected by the rainy season front on Thursday and Friday.
So, it is expected that the temperature will drop slightly as the rainy season falls across the country. After a brief lull on the 9th, it is expected to be affected by the rainy season front from the 10th to the 11th.
[앵커]
Now it’s so hot that it’s really hard to breathe when I go out for the weekend. Is it okay to exercise outside in this kind of weather?
[반기성]
In fact, it is very dangerous. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the current heat wave warning standard is 33 degrees Celsius and the sensible temperature if it is an advisory. not the temperature. So, considering the humidity, in the case of Seoul, the sensible temperature will be over 33 degrees even if it rises only 32 degrees.
So, if you look at the actual temperature, it is generally considered difficult to exercise when the temperature rises above 31 degrees Celsius in summer. However, there are standards for playing tennis outdoors or exercising.
When we say the thermal index, when we say the temperature outside, we take into account not only the temperature but also the humidity and radiation, that is, the heat coming up from the ground. I usually do things like that, but even when I have that kind of heat index, it’s usually around 30 degrees, so I’ve been banned from exercising in places like the Olympics.
Outdoor track workouts. So, most of us see it in the middle of summer in our case like Seoul. In the midsummer when the humidity is high, I think it would be better not to do it above 31 degrees.
[앵커]
Center manager, and since the heat has been coming in earnest since June of this year, there are a lot of concerns about whether the heat this summer is much worse than usual. Is that correct?
[반기성]
Right now, quite a bit around the world, we recorded a record-breaking heatwave in June. In Korea, too, the heat wave started much earlier than expected in June. So, this is what we feel while making the fortress forecast. As in the past, the North Pacific high pressure rises, the rainy season begins, and this pattern seems to disappear now.
I don’t think it’s changing very abnormally, but the problem is, if it is, for example, this year, it got hotter. It’s a tropical night now or the first heat wave, all of these things are recorded this year. So, is this year the earliest? It is not.
Then, for example, in 2019, the heat wave warning was issued very early in Seoul, but despite this, it was not very hot. And in the case of the hottest year in Korea like 2018, the heat wave warning was issued in Seoul on July 18.
So even though it was more than a fortnight later than this year, that year was the hottest. So I don’t think this correlation is that meaningful, but the temperature is continuing to rise due to the current climate change.
[앵커]
Could it be a little hotter than usual?
[반기성]
It’s definitely hotter than usual. What we are worried about is that Hongcheon recorded 41 degrees Celsius in 2018, the hottest year in Korea so far, but there is a possibility that it will exceed that temperature this year.
After that, one of the things K-Weather does is that there are a lot of tropical nights this year, so the record so far was in the summer of 2013 the most, but this year there is a possibility that there are more tropical nights than in 2013, so I expect that.
[앵커]
The heat is also hot, but humid weather seems to be quite a problem. If it’s humid like this, won’t the discomfort index go up a lot?
[반기성]
Absolutely. No matter how high the temperature, we actually feel when the humidity is low. So, based on the relative humidity, it is 33 degrees, the current temperature in Seoul. In the case of spring or autumn, the relative humidity will be less than 30% even if the temperature rises by 33 degrees. Then the actual temperature feels only 31 degrees.
It’s the same 33 degrees, but if it’s the same as yesterday, the humidity goes up to 65%. Then it feels like 34.5 degrees. So, actually, the easiest thing we talk about, such as the weather discomfort index, is the concept of humidity.
So the higher the humidity, the less sweat we can sweat to control our body temperature.
[앵커]
As we talked about the weather, people around us said that the thing that worries us the most these days is that there is a typhoon coming and the rainy season continues. When is the best time, Center Manager?
[반기성]
People around me ask a lot of questions, but that’s what I say. After all, the hottest time in Korea is the 7th or 8th second of our vacation, isn’t it? Most of the time, the monsoon season is over and the heat wave comes in earnest. It is the beginning of August in summer in Korea. That’s when it’s the hottest.
So this year, of course, the rainy season will end before that. The rainy season also seems to end in early July from our point of view. Then, at the beginning of August, it is probably the hottest this year, unless, ideally, a typhoon does not come. So this year, the best vacation season will be in late July or early August.
[앵커]
Is the head of the center going at that time too?
[반기성]
no. We, the weather forecasters, can’t because they wait for the weather in summer. We usually go on vacation in October.
[앵커]
So, people who work hard on the weather can’t go on vacation because there are a lot of variables in summer, right?
[반기성]
That’s right. There are heat waves, and there are heavy rains and sudden downpours. Because there are typhoons, I rarely go on vacation in August.
[앵커]
So, when will the sweltering heat end this time?
[반기성]
I think it should be divided into short-term and long-term concepts. First of all, in the short term, it will be hot until this Wednesday, and then it will cool off. If you look at the current forecast, if you look at the 10-day forecast, it will rain on Thursday and Friday, and the rainy season will be affected once again from Sunday to Tuesday of the following week.
But now it’s very hot this year, so the North Pacific high pressure has been expanding relatively quickly. Because it has heat, the sea water temperature in the North Pacific is high.
The high pressure develops quickly, but the problem is that a lot of glaciers have melted on the Okhotsk side. So the high pressure in the Sea of Okhotsk is relatively strong. So, will this really keep pushing and it will get hotter indefinitely after the rainy season is over? Or will the cold air in the north support it to some extent? It seems to be a fight like this now, but the problem is that the Tibetan high pressure is right now.
The high pressure up there is very well developed. That is why this phenomenon is occurring when it is very hot in 2018, as it is called the heat dome phenomenon in summer in Korea.
So, it is really difficult to predict when the high pressure force in the Sea of Okhotsk will weaken, but since there is a certain amount of force, I think the rainy season will proceed similarly to normal years. So in July it’s a partial part. After the rainy season ends, the heat wave comes.
Then, when the rainy season comes again, the temperature drops slightly. After the rainy season, the heat wave comes again. It seems that this kind of weather will repeat itself, and then the sweltering heat will come in earnest from the end of July.
[앵커]
The time to endure the heat is getting longer every year, so it seems that you should take good care of your health. Until now, I was the head of K Weather Center Ban Ki-seong. Thank you.
※ ‘Your report becomes news’
[카카오톡] Search YTN to add a channel
[전화] 02-398-8585
[메일] social@ytn.co.kr
