As any Korean will tell you (probably more than once), Korea has four distinct seasons of about equal length. Traditionally, Koreans divided the year into 24 seasons. Each of these seasons has a distinct and surprisingly reliably predictable weather pattern. When I asked the Korean friend who seemed most likely to know when the first snow in Seoul was possible, he thought for thought only for a brief moment before decisively telling me "November 16." Sure enough, on November 18, the first day after the 16th with precipitation, we had mixed rain and snow showers. It's reassuring that one can generally count on the accuracy of a Korean's prediction in response to when will this hot weather end!?

Despite its southerly latitudes, Korea experiences a fairly severe winter. Temperatures in Seoul can dip as low as -20°C (-5°F), though they usually average between 0°C and 10°C (32°F-50°F) in the day and -10°C and 0°C (10°F-32°F) at night. A pattern of three colder days followed by four milder days is fairly consistent from December through February.

Happily, spring comes early with daytime temperatures climbing into the twenties (70s°F) by early April. To the delight of any North American who lives East of the Rockies and north of the Mason-Dixon Line, and who is therefore used to the outdoors being gray and dead for six months of the year, green shoots appear and flowers start opening by mid-March. April, May and June are usually pleasant and warm. July is tropically rainy and hot. August is very hot (33°C/90°F+) and quite humid, and generally without afternoon showers to cool things down. The autumn is sunny and warm into late October. If I had to compare Seoul's weather with that of a North American City, I'd have to say it was similar to New York City's weather, though Seoul is wetter than New York in July and drier the rest of the year.

Temperatures in Busan are somewhat (3-6°C / 5-10°F) milder in winter and much the same as Seoul during the rest of the year. Though Jeju is described by many Koreans as "sub tropical," they have to wrap the small palm trees up in plastic for the winter. The climate is generally quite dry.

Below is today's forecast for Seoul, Busan, and Daegu. Note that the names used by Qwikcast for the latter two cities use pre-2000 spelling.