(Yonhap)
This year’s monsoon season is set to start Wednesday, with clouds from the west coast expected to pour heavy rain across the country, which has been dealing with one of the hottest summers in history already.
The Korea Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that rain will start from early Wednesday morning on Jeju Island and in the western region, followed by Seoul and Gyeonggi Province later in the morning then gradually expand to across the country in the afternoon.
A number of regions are expected to see more than 30 millimeters of rain per hour accompanied by thunderstorms and heavy winds. Northern Gangwon Province is forecast to be the most heavily impacted, with more than 120 millimeters of rain Wednesday.
The rainfall is expected to stop by late Thursday night in most regions but start again hours later from an influx of more cold air from the north.
While rain is expected to cool off the summer heat to as low as 24 degrees Celsius for the next three days, the KMA said most regions in Korea will continue to see their daytime temperatures exceed 30 degrees Celsius once the rain stops Friday.
Rain is also forecast on Sunday for the southwestern regions, including South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island.
By Ko Jun-tae (
ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)