![The bed of Chugok Reservoir in Jinbuk-myeon, Masanhappo-gu, Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, is cracked Friday amid an intense heat wave and a dry monsoon season. According to the Korea Rural Community Corporation's rural water management information system, the reservoir's storage rate stood at 7.4 percent that day, about 8.52 percent of the average level of 86.8 percent. [Yonhap]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/31/rcv.YNA.20260731.PYH2026073109380005200_P1.jpg)
Temperatures in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, climbed to 40.7 degrees Celsius on Friday, breaking the all-time high for the city since weather observations began there.
The reading surpassed all previous highs recorded since the Yangsan weather station opened on Dec. 26, 2008.
Daytime temperatures in Yangsan have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius for three consecutive days since Wednesday.
The city's peak temperature on Wednesday and Thursday was 40.3 degrees Celsius, but accumulated heat pushed the mercury even higher Friday. The point at which temperatures crossed the 40-degree threshold has been creeping earlier each day — first at around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, then around 1:10 p.m. Thursday, and at 12:36 p.m. Friday.
Including readings from automated weather stations, only three locations in South Korea have recorded temperatures at or above 40 degrees Celsius for three or more consecutive days since 1973 — and this week's streak in Yangsan is one of them.
Analysts attribute the relentless record-breaking in Yangsan to a combination of global warming, a double high-pressure system blanketing the Korean Peninsula, and the city's basin topography, which traps heat.
yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com
