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Monday morning in Seoul was the coldest this winter with 10.8 degrees Celsius after the expansion of cold continental high atmospheric pressure. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) predicted Tuesday will also be cold but warm up gradually. Morning lows for Seoul and Cheongju will touch -8 degrees, with -5 degrees for Jeonju and Daegu on Tuesday.
After two consecutive days below -10 degrees, the Han River froze on Monday, 13 days earlier than last year and three days sooner than the average of the last 30 years. The KMA has no idea when the ice will melt. In 1998 the river thawed in two days and in 1996 it took 38 days.
Although the Han River froze earlier this year, due to global warming the date has overall gradually been pushed back since 1906, when records started. From 1906 to 1928, the river froze in December. But since January 6, 1930, the date when the river froze over gradually retreated, and in 1960 it did not freeze at all. In the winter of 1963, the river did not ice over until February 13 of the next year. Since then, the delay has become more apparent, with the river hardly ever freezing until mid-January.
The ice has also lasted for shorter and shorter periods, from more than two months in the early 20th century to an average of 16.2 days in the 1990s.
Global warming, brought about by an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, is the most common explanation. The Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) said the density of carbon dioxide increased by 30 percent since the time of industrialization, shortening winters significantly. The winters of the 1990s were about a month shorter than those of the 1920s.
(Lee Wi-jae, wjlee@chosun.com )
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