South Korea broke the 118-year record as it reported its 26th tropical night in a row with the temperature continuously recorded above 25 Degrees Celsius.
“The cold air is not coming down from the north, and as we are affected by the warmer side of the southwest, the temperature is continuously recording around 25 degrees Celsius or above,” Youn Ki-han, director at Seoul‘s Meteorology Forecast Division, told AFP.
The tropical night phenomenon has continued in southern port city Busan for 21 days in a row to tie the record for the most consecutive tropical nights set in 1994 and 2018.
Seoul has experienced its most prolonged period of extreme heat since modern weather records began in 1907. The previous record, set in 2018, was thought to be the longest, but the current streak is now considered the new standard by the weather agency.
Busan, another major city in South Korea, has also been affected by the heatwave, according to the KBS world, a Korean-based site.
The Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) reported on Thursday that Busan had experienced 21 consecutive tropical nights between Wednesday and Thursday, with the first occurring on July 25.
A tropical night is defined as a period when nighttime temperatures remain above 25 degrees Celsius from 6 pm to 9 am the following day.