KOREA
had a long (19511988) and relatively complete
record, however. Suwon is located at an eleva-
The situation regarding snow data for Korea is
tion of 25 m on the east coast of South Korea,
similar to that for Germany, i.e., snowfall and
roughly 50 km south of Seoul. The areas of most
snow depth data are mostly unavailable in the
interest are well to the north of Suwon and at
standard climatic data sources. The ISMCS CD-
much higher elevations.
ROM, for example, has only three stations in
The average annual snowfall over the period
Korea with snowfall data, and two of those sta-
of record at Suwon was 36 cm, with an estimated
tions have short periods of record.
depth on the ground of 1520 cm. The average
An excellent basic resource for studying the
January temperature was 3.9C, with an aver-
Korean climate is a very old but still useful study
age daily maximum of +1.1C and an average
published by the Environmental Protection Sec-
daily minimum of 8.9C. In an average Janu-
tion of the Department of the Army in 1950. This
aryFebruary period, the minimum tempera-
study points out that "outdoor conditions in
tures fell below freezing 56 days out of the total
Korea are in most respects like those which would
58. Winter conditions are presumably less severe
be encountered in the corresponding places in the
here than in most other northern parts of Korea,
United States." In general, western Korea is cli-
including the areas of military interest near the
matically similar to the Mississippi Valley, and the
border between South and North Korea.
Korean Pacific coast is similar to the mid-Atlantic
The single greatest daily snow depth ever
and New England regions (Fig. 2).
recorded at Suwon during the period of record
A snowpack forms nearly every winter for at
least 30 days in Korea north of 35N latitude and
was 38 cm, on 31 January 1969 (occurring shortly
after the record daily snowfall of 26 cm on 28 Jan-
at higher elevations south of this latitude. Good
uary 1969.) In an average year the maximum
worst-case numbers for vehicle mobility analysis
snow depth was only 8.4 cm.
are similar to those used for Germany or the
The median values for the beginning and end
northeastern United States, i.e., a maximum snow
of the snow season over the period of record at
depth of 60 cm, a maximum snow density of 0.4
g/cm3 and a minimum snow density of 0.04 g/cm3.
Suwon were as follows:
First snowfall:
Nov 25
The three Korean stations in the ISMCS data-
First measurable snowfall:
Dec 6
base that have records of snowfall are all in South
Korea. Two of these--Camp Stanley (3734′N,
First measurable snow depth:
Dec 22
12706′E) and Camp Humphries (3657′N and
Last measurable snow depth:
Feb 12
12702′E)--had periods of records that were less
Last measurable snowfall:
Mar 9
Last snowfall:
Mar 24.
than ten years long, with a considerable amount
of missing data. Suwon AFB (3715′N, 12700′E)
The earliest date for the initial formation of the
Winter as cold as western Labrador
Topographically more rugged than Adirondacks
Summer like eastern New York
38
38
Topographically like southeast Ohio
Climate more like western Indiana
Figure 2. Areas of the United States with climates and topography
similar to those of Korea. (After U.S. Army 1950.)
5
Previous Page
