Seoul Has Coldest December in 30 Years, Says Weather Bureau

The South Korean capital Seoul is experiencing its coldest December in 30 years, with the temperature dropping as low as minus 15.1 degrees Celsius on Dec. 24, according to the weather bureau.

“South Korea will probably experience sudden cold snaps this winter,” said Chung June Seok, a director of the climate prediction division at the Korea Meteorological Administration in Seoul.

Higher temperatures around the North Pole, which may be related to global warming, have pushed cold air to lower latitudes, including in South Korea, North America and Europe, Chung said by telephone today.

On the U.S. East Coast, a winter snowstorm, accompanied by blizzard conditions, draped cities from Philadelphia to Boston in white while grounding holiday travelers and signaling trouble for commuters.

At 12 p.m. in Seoul today it was minus 3.5 degrees Celsius and cloudy, according to the bureau’s website. Tomorrow’s forecast is for snow and a minimum temperature of minus 2 degrees Celsius.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sookyung Seo in Seoul at sseo10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kae Inoue at kinoue@bloomberg.net