02.15.11

World Wide Weather #30: Gangneung, South Korea

Posted in Non-US Weather, Weather News, Winter Weather at 8:00 am by Rebekah

This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Gangneung (Kangnŭng), Gangwon-do, South Korea.

Gangneung (Kangnŭng) is a city of about 230,000 people in Gangwon-do province, South Korea. Situated on the east coast of the country, Gangneung lies between the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Baekdu mountain ridge. The beautiful valleys and mountains around Gangneung, as well as the pine forests and sandy beaches, make this city a popular tourist destination. There are also many festivals that take place in Gangneung.

A few more facts about Gangneung (from Wikipedia):

• Time zone: Korea Standard Time (UTC+9)
• Elevation: varies…from about 30 ft (9 m) to around 100 ft (30 m)…higher in the hills
• Climate zone: Humid subtropical
• Average high temperature: 63 °F (17 °C)
• Average low temperature: 48 °F (9 °C)
• Average annual high/low temperature range: 41 to 83 °F (5 to 28 °C) / 26 to 70 °F (-3 to 21 °C)
• Average annual precipitation: 55 inches (1,402 mm)

Weather: Eastern South Korea has been experiencing record snowfalls lately. Gangneung recently observed a 24-hr snowfall of 30.6 inches (77.7 cm), the greatest 24-hr snowfall since records began in 1911. This heavy snow caused hundreds of roofs to collapse and stranded cars in huge drifts of snow.

High temperatures this week are expected to be in the mid to upper 30s (°F), with lows around 20 °F. Snow is not uncommon this time of year, but this has been an uncommonly cold winter for North Korea and snowy winter for eastern South Korea. Newspapers in South Korea are calling this a “snow bomb”, similar to recent US terms popularized by the media such as “snowpocalypse” and “snowmaggedon”.

For weather maps and information on current and forecast Gangneung weather, see Weather Underground and Weather Online UK (maps and models).

For more information on Gangneung, here’s a link to Wikipedia.

Next Tuesday I plan to take a look at the climate and weather in another part of the globe.  As always, if you have any suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment!

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