Meteorologist who predicted summer heatwave warns extreme winter cold

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The meteorologist who correctly forecast summer heat waves exceeding 40 degrees Celsius this year, has now warned of extreme cold snaps sweeping the country in the upcoming winter.

Kim Hae-dong, a professor of environmental engineering at Keimyung University, said in a radio interview with CBS on Monday that “this winter will be very cold, similar to the winter of 2021 and 2022 when the temperature fell below minus 18 degrees Celsius.”

Kim added that as Korea enters winter, La Nina conditions will likely appear, bringing a severe arctic cold wave to both Korea and North America. La Nina is a weather pattern resulting from unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Pacific, compared to El Nino, which is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures.

He also predicted that this year’s fall season will be short in duration, continuing a trend observed over the last decade. “If you look at the last 10 years or so, autumn has been mostly disappearing,” he said. “I don’t think we will be able to see much of autumn this year.”

Last year, the daytime temperature reached 29 C well into mid-November, only to suddenly drop more than 20 C the next day, he said. “This year will likely be the same."

While many were relieved by the recent temperature drop, the professor believes the heat will persist for a little longer. “People are very happy by the cooler weather, thinking fall has arrived, but starting tomorrow, temperatures will again approach 30 C,” said Kim. "I think the heat will persist until at least early November, and then all of sudden the cold weather will arrive."

By Ahn Sung-mi(sahn@heraldcorp.com)