South Korea suffered the hottest summer on record this year, with the southern part of the country bearing the brunt of the scorching heat, the state weather agency said Monday.

The Korea Meteorological Administration said the nation‘s average summer temperature came in at 25.4 degrees Celsius, 1.8 C higher than usual and the highest since the agency began gathering related data in 1973.

The morning lows averaged 21.7 C this summer, the highest in 40 years, due to frequent tropical nights during which the mercury doesn’t drop below 25 C, it said.

The average daytime high reached 30.1 C, the second highest since 1973, according to the weather agency.

Forty-five areas across the nation recorded a daytime high of 33 C or higher for 18.2 days, the second-longest heat streak in history.

This summer, the country had an average rainfall of 567.5 millimeters, only 78 percent of the normal amount, the weather service added. (Yonhap News)