SEOUL – Residents of South Korea’s capital are resorting to novel ways to beat the heat as a century-old weather record fell Friday following a 26th “tropical night” in a row — when the temperature stays above 25 degrees Celsius.
“I take a cold shower before bed and tie freezer packs around my electric fan to cool the air,” Lee Ji-soo told AFP Friday.
Overnight temperatures in Seoul have sizzled above 25 degrees Celsius for 26 days in a row, officials said Friday, marking the longest streak since modern weather observation began in 1907.
Such evenings are widely known as “tropical nights” in South Korea.
North Korea is also sweltering under a heatwave and issued a warning earlier this week, with central areas including Pyongyang affected.
“Severe heat of 33 to 37 is foreseen in some areas,” said Kim Kwang Hyok, an official at the State Hydro-Meteorological Administration.
In Japan, meanwhile, a “very strong” typhoon buffeted Japan’s Pacific coast with fierce winds and heavy rain on Friday, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and trains in the Tokyo area and leaving over 4,000 homes without power.
Located about 300 kilometres (190 miles) south of Tokyo, Typhoon Ampil was packing gusts of up to 216 kph as it headed north, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The eye of the typhoon was not expected to make landfall, instead barrelling north-eastward up the Honshu coast and skirting the Tokyo region, home to around 40 million people, before heading back into the Pacific from Saturday.
The JMA rated the weather system as “very strong”, one notch below its highest category of “violent typhoon”, with maximum wind speeds of 105 knots (120 mph, 195 kmh).
The agency warned people they “should be on high alert for storms, high waves, landslides and flooding” in a social media post.
The US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast maximum sustained wind speeds of 110 knots and gusts of 135 knots by 3:00 pm off the coastal Chiba region east of the capital.
Over 4,000 households in Tokyo’s neighbouring prefectures, mainly Chiba, were without power as of Friday morning due to the typhoon, according to the utility operator.
Much of the world is enduring a summer of sweltering weather, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warning last month of an “extreme heat epidemic”, and calling for action to limit the impact of climate change.
The intense heat in Seoul is expected to continue, according to the met office, setting a record every day until next week.
“The cold air is not coming down from the north,” Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul’s Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP.
“Usually around this time the temperature drops in the morning and evening… but currently we aren’t seeing any signs of that yet,” said Youn.
As temperatures soar, residents struggle to find ways to cope with the sweltering nights.
“I think I turn on my air conditioner 23 hours a day,” said Kim Young-sook, who lives in Gangnam district, an affluent neighborhood in Seoul.
“I’m worried my dogs will become too hot — even during at night.”
That isn’t an option for Lee Ji-soo, who straps icepacks to her fan.
“I do have an air conditioner but I just can’t afford the electricity bill,” she said.
“The air is suffocating sometimes. I don’t know how long I can live like this.”
Data from Korea Power Exchange showed South Korea’s electricity demand hit an all-time high on Monday as people battled the heatwave with air conditioners and fans.
Some 102.3 gigawatts were used, passing the previous record of 100.6 gigawatts set last August, the agency said.
According to the International Institute for Environment and Development, the number of days with temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius in the world’s largest capital cities has surged by 52 percent over the past 30 years.
In 2018 alone, Seoul experienced 21 days with temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius — more than the previous 10 years combined.
“In just one generation, there’s been an alarming increase,” said Dr Tucker Landesman, a senior researcher at IIED.
Climate activists in South Korea are calling for more government action.
“There’s no chance that this will get better and it’s bound to get worse,” Youn Se-jong, an environmental lawyer, told AFP.
“Strengthening the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be the priority,” he added.
