Is Seoul Getting Hotter?
The numbers don't lie. Seoul's average temperature is 2 degrees higher than it was in the 1910s. That's based on 120 years of station data, carefully homogenised to remove artifacts from equipment changes and station relocations.
What stands out is the pace of change. Most of the warming has been concentrated in the last few decades, with the rate accelerating from the 1980s onward.
Average Annual Temperature by Decade
Seoul's 2.0 degree warming since the 1910s tracks one of the most dramatic urban transformations in history. In 1950, Seoul was a city of roughly 1 million. Today it anchors a metropolitan area of 26 million. The Han River, once flanked by rice paddies, is now lined with high-rises. That transformation shows up clearly in the temperature data, with the warming rate accelerating through the 1970s and 1980s as construction peaked.
Compared to other major world cities, Seoul's warming is notably above average.
Decade by Decade
| Decade | Avg Temp (C) | Change from 1910s |
|---|
How Seoul Compares Globally
Among the world's major cities, Seoul's warming rate places it in the upper tier. Here is how Seoul stacks up against other global cities.
Key Numbers
Explore More
About This Data
Temperature data on this page comes from the Global Historical Climatology Network version 4 (GHCN v4), maintained by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. GHCN v4 contains monthly mean temperature data for over 25,000 stations across the globe, with records dating back to the 18th century for some stations. The data has been quality-controlled and homogenised using the Pairwise Homogeneity Algorithm to remove artificial discontinuities from station moves, equipment changes, and observation practice changes.
Seoul's primary station is Seoul City, with records spanning 1907-2026. The "change" figures compare each decade's average to the 1910s baseline. Note that some of the warming in large cities is attributable to the urban heat island effect rather than regional climate change alone. The figures shown here include both components, as they represent what the city actually experiences.
NASA GISTEMP analysis, which processes GHCN v4 data, is a product of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. It is produced as a US Government work and is in the public domain.