You may have heard of the word, “rainy season”. A rainy season means the period when the seasonal rainy front stays in the southern part of South Korea. Also, the seasonal rainy front is made by colliding cold northeast air current from the sea of Okhotsk with warm and humid southwestern air current from the North Pacific.

▲ Children are put up an umbrella together in the rainy season.

The rainy season usually runs from late June to late July. However, the dry rainy season has been going on in South Korea for the past five years. Dry rainy season means when the seasonal rainy front is already made, but it does not approach to South Korea, or the activity level is weak. The average rainfall for the past 46 years is about 417 mm, but the average rainfall for 12 days last year is only 297.1 mm. Especially, the rainy season has been delayed because of the delay in the northward phase of high atmospheric pressure in the North Pacific, which affects the formation of the rainy front.

▲ It is the rainy season, but rain does not fall.

There is a lot of damage from the dry rainy season. First, the dry rainy season causes droughts due to the shortage of water, which have a lot of adverse effects on the cultivation of crops. This makes the price of the crop increase, so it would also affect the economic problem. Second, weather prediction might not be possible, so disasters such as drought and flooding may not be possible in advance.

▲ It was rainy season, but it did not rain so we had a drought.

In addition to the dry rainy season, there are some precautions during the seasonal rainy season. First, we should be careful about food poisoning because it increases germs 1.3 times and molds three times when humidity reaches 60 percent or more. Second, we should not touch electrical products because it can cause electric shock. Third, the road would be slippery, so the drivers should maintain a safe distance, and pedestrians should wear sweaters or long shoes instead of slippery shoes like slippers.

July 31st, 2019 by Lee Dowon