Climatology
This page presents Korea, Rep.'s climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
The ROK is located in the four-season mid-latitude temperate climate zone where winters are cold and dry due to the continental high atmospheric pressure, and summers are generally hot and humid because of the North Pacific anticyclone. During spring and autumn, the migratory anticyclones often provide relatively clear skies and dry conditions. Over the 29 years (1990-2018), the annual mean temperature of the ROK is 12.8°C; the hottest month is August with a mean temperature of 25.3°C, and the coldest month is January with a mean temperature of -0.8°C.