Lee Hyo-sik is Finance Desk editor at The Korea Times. He manages finance-related stories on macroeconomics, banks, stocks, bonds, crypto etc. He is passionate about covering what's happening in Korea's financial industry and explaining it to both Korean and non-Korean readers. You can reach him at leehs@koreatimes.co.kr. Your insights and feedbacks are always appreciated.
Weather agency to forecast unusual weather patterns
By Lee Hyo-sik
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said Tuesday that it will offer a more precise “extreme climate index” next year by dividing the entire country into a 1 square-kilometer unit.
The move is designed to help municipalities cope with floods and other natural disasters caused by unusual aspects of the weather.
Currently, the agency announces the extreme climate index by dividing the nation into a 100 square-kilometer units, which makes accuracy difficult.
The index is computed by taking into consideration the temperature, precipitation and 18 other climate-related factors.
For instance, Seoul, which sits on an area of 605 square-kilometers, is divided into six zones and accordingly, only six extreme climate indices are announced for the city.
But from 2012, KMA will issue 605 climate indices by splitting the capital city into 605 units, enabling city and district offices to better deal with uncommon weather patterns.
A KMA spokesman said the ongoing global warming will make the climate surrounding the Korean Peninsula more extreme and unpredictable.
“The more detailed index will help us more effectively prevent, and cope with floods and other drastic weather changes,” the spokesman said.