A typical snowfall pattern occurs over the east coastal region of the Korean Peninsula, known as the Yeongdong region. The precipitation over the Yeongdong region is influenced by the cold and dry northeasterly wind which advects over warm and moist sea surface of the East Sea of Korea. This study reveals the influence of large-scale factors, affecting local to remote areas, on the mesoscale snowfall system over the Yeongdong region. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy reanalysis dataset, Extended Reconstructed sea surface temperature, and observed snowfall data are analyzed to reveal the relationship between February snowfall and large-scale factors from 1981 to 2014. The Yeongdong snowfall is associated with the sea level pressure patterns over the Gaema Plateau and North Pacific near the Bering Sea, which is remotely associated to the sea surface temperature (SST) variability over the North Pacific. It is presented that the relationship between the Yeongdong snowfall and large-scale factors is strengthened after 1999 when the central north Pacific has warm anomalous SST. These enhanced relationships explain the atmospheric patterns of recent strong snowfall years (2010, 2011, and 2014). It is suggested that the newly defined index in this study based on related SST variability can be used for a seasonal predictor of the Yeongdong snowfall with 2-month leading.

Tropical cyclones (TCs) over the western North Pacific (WNP) mainly occur during June-October, and result in significant casualties and damages to property in East Asian countries (e.g., Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and China, etc.). Although the total number of TCs that occurred over WNP was similar to normal years, the numer of TCs that affected Korea in August and September 2019 was 3 times higher than with the same number of TCs in July. Therefore, this study examined why more TCs migrated into Korea in 2019 through analyzing four environmental conditions: steering flow, geopotential height at 500 hPa, vertical wind shear (VWS), and sea surface temperature (SST). Results showed that the tracks of TCs were significantly associated with steering flows from July to September. Furthermore, weaker VWS and warmer SST were distributed near the tracks of TCs during August and September, whereas strong VWS and lower SST were dominant in July. The environmental conditions in August and September were favorable for maintaining and developing TCs, explaining why more typhoons have affected Korea during August and September in 2019.

We estimated changes in temperature-related extreme events over South Korea for the mid and late 21st Century using the 122 years (1979-2100) data simulated by RegCM4 with HadGEM2-AO data as boundary conditions. We analyzed the four extreme events (Hot day: HD, Tropical day: TD, Frost day: FD, Icing Day: ID) and five extreme values (Maximum temperature 95/5 percentile: TX95P/TX5P, Minimum temperature 95/5 percentile: TN95P/TN5P, Daily temperature range 95 percentile: DTR95P) based on the absolute and relative thresholds, respectively. Under the global warming conditions, hot extreme indices (HD, TD, TX95P, TN95P) increase, suggesting more frequent and severe extreme events, while cold extreme indices (FD, ID, TX5P, TN5P) decrease their frequency and intensities. In the late 21st Century, changes in extremes are greater in severe global warming scenario, RCP8.5 rather than RCP4.5. HD and TD (FD and ID) are expected to increase (decrease) in the mid 21st Century. The average HD is expected to increase by 14 (17) days in RCP4.5 (8.5). All the percentile indices except for DTR95P are expected to increase in both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. In the late 21st Century, HD and TD are significantly increased in RCP8.5 compared to RCP4.5, but FD and ID are expected to be significantly reduced. HD is expected to increase mainly in the southwestern region, twice (+41 days) in RCP8.5. TD is expected to increase by 17 days in RCP8.5, which is 5 times greater than that in RCP4.5. TX95P, TN95P and TX5P are expected to increase by about 2°C and 4°C in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. TN5P is expected to increase significantly by 4°C and 7°C in RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively.