South Korea Sets Daily Temperature Records in Summer Heat Wave
South Korea is in the midst of a summer heat wave that's broken a string of temperature records in the space of a few days. As reservoirs dry and officials issue warnings, some Koreans foresee a future when this kind of summer heat will become a new normal.
REPORTER:
The signs warn “deep water”, “no swimming”. But here at Baekan Reservoir in South Korea, there’s almost no water left to speak of.
REPORTER:
Over an extremely hot summer, this “reservoir” has turned into a field of cracked, parched dirt.
REPORTER:
Depth markers stick out from the baked earth with nothing left to measure.
REPORTER:
And from above, the sun brings another day of unbearable heat. South Korea broke three heat records in the course of three days from Friday to Sunday, each hotter than the last. Peak temperatures nearing 43 degrees sent around 300 people to the hospital. By Monday, officials issued the country’s first ever “severe heat wave warning” for the capital Seoul.
REPORTER:
In the city of Miryang, about 50 kilometers from Busan, longtime residents say this summer’s heat is unusual.
Yoon Young-jin (RESIDENT):
I am 61 years old and this is the hottest I have experienced in 50 years.
REPORTER:
Younger residents, too, say this heat has gotten to be too much.
Park Su-hyeon (RESIDENT):
Judging by the exact temperature figures, I can see that global warming is getting worse. I can't imagine living without air conditioning anymore.
REPORTER:
South Korea joins places from neighboring Japan all the way over to wildfire-hit Europe struggling with new extremes of heat. And here, as elsewhere, there’s a growing sense of a new, dangerous normal.
