Korea's 40-degree streak rolls into August
Korea's highest heat alert held across the south on 2 August as stations set new highs
The three lines
- Critical heat alerts stayed in force across Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces on 2 August
- Several southern stations set new all-time daily highs, with some readings above 40C
- The record streak that closed July at 41.4C has continued into the new month unbroken
Key questions
- How hot is it in Korea right now
- Felt temperatures reached around 35C across most of the country on 2 August, with actual readings above 40C in parts of the south. The top-tier critical alert — issued at 39C forecast or 38C felt — remained in force.
- When will the Korean heat wave end
- The weather agency says only that severe heat and tropical nights will continue for the time being. No easing date has been forecast, so none is given here.
- Is this Korea's hottest summer ever
- By several measures it is tracking that way: the all-time high of 41.4C fell on 31 July, tropical-night counts lead the historical table, and stations were still setting daily records in August.
July ended with the highest temperature ever recorded in Korea. August has picked up without a pause. On the month's first weekend the country's top-tier heat alert stayed in force across the southern provinces, and weather stations there were still rewriting their record books.
1. What happened
As of the weather agency's 6pm bulletin on 2 August, critical heat alerts — the top of Korea's three-tier system, issued when 39C is forecast or felt temperature reaches 38C — covered the Jeolla and Gyeongsang regions, with lesser alerts across most of the rest of the country. Felt temperatures ran around 35C nationwide; parts of the south passed 40C outright.
Several southern stations set new all-time daily maximums on the day, extending the sequence that produced the national record of 41.4C at Yangsan on 31 July. The record-setting has now crossed the month boundary without interruption.
2. The numbers
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Top-tier alerts | Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces (2 Aug, 6pm) |
| Critical alert threshold | 39C forecast, or 38C felt |
| Felt temperature | around 35C across most of the country |
| Above 40C | recorded in parts of the south |
| New records | daily all-time highs at several southern stations |
| Standing national record | 41.4C, Yangsan, 31 July |
The mechanism is unchanged from the July coverage: the North Pacific high overlaid by the Tibetan high, two warm air masses stacked over the peninsula trapping heat day and night. Tropical-night counts remain on a record pace. Korea's three alert tiers and the clinical response to heat stroke are covered in this site's standing reference piece.
3. What is still open
Which stations set records, and by how much, awaits the KMA's confirmed statistics — provisional readings are not itemised here. Heat-illness totals likewise: the confirmed count through 31 July stood at 1,638 cases and 12 deaths, and the weekend's numbers await the next KDCA bulletin.
On the question that matters most — when this ends — the agency has forecast only that severe heat continues "for the time being." No easing date exists in any official outlook, so none appears here.