Rainy Season Forecast to Change Next Year
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
From next year, the term ``jangma (rainy season)'' will be officially scrapped from weather forecasts to make way for ''woogi (summer rainy season),'' the Korea Meteorological Administration said Friday.
Since the Korean Peninsula is turning into a subtropical zone, the range of rainy days has expanded and describing summer as rainy is probably more appropriate, a spokesman at the weather watchdog said. ``Even after the conventional jangma period has ended, we still see rainfall,'' he said.
Therefore, weather reports from next year will omit the start and end of jangma and instead emphasize that ``the entire summer could see rain at anytime.''
Redefining the rainy season is a hot issue among meteorologists. The term jangma is widely used in Northeast Asia, covering 30-40 days from June to mid-July. ``The temperature has gone up, however, due to climate change and the ecological system as well as the country's climate have also changed,'' Chung Yong-seung of the Center for Atmospheric Environmental Research said in supporting the deletion.
A weather report showed that less rain fell last month and more this month than it did 20 years ago. Warmer temperatures are also affecting plants and other life on the planet.
China and Japan have also dropped the term jangma, giving the decision added strength, analysts say.
Critics, however, say the announcement stems from public criticism over the weather watchdog's streak of inaccurate forecasts that went on for six straight weekends from June to July. By widening the range of rainy days and blurring the jangma season, the organization can get away with errors, critics say.
The weather body said it will still collect data on jangma but only for internal staff conducting academic research.