Tuesday, July 18, 2006

What's the weather like then?

One assumption that a lot of people have is that South Korea, being in Far East Asia, must have a tropical climate and be hot all year round.

Not exactly.

Yes, it is hot there at the moment (about 27deg C with 97% humidity) and it will be similar in August which is the hottest month. However in winter it goes down to -7deg C. www.weather.com has some nice little graphs. So we've packed lots of cold weather gear.

Just this morning on the way to work, in Metro the free newspaper I spotted this story about how South Koreans have a very real fear of death from electric fans kept on overnight It sounds like the most bizarre superstition, but in fact Korean newspapers report an annual average of ten deaths per year where a fan was left on overnight when the victim died. Wierd urban myth or real phenomenon? More on this at www.fandeath.net and other message boards dedicated to this national obsession.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

how do they die, jon, is it a splatty 'caught in a propellor' type death or electric shock or hypothermia or what?

Jon Allen said...

Dr Yeon Dong-su reckons Hypothermia, but the Korean tourist board is trying to play it down and suggests in the West it might be the equivalent of Cot death.