The average temperature in July was lower than in June for the first time this year in South Korea, meteorologists said Sunday, due to exceptionally high temperatures in the Arctic caused by global climate change.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, this year's June was the hottest on record with a monthly average temperature of 22.8 C but the mercury didn't rise further in July, as cold air stayed over the country due mainly to climate change.

As a result, the monthly average temperature for July was 22.7 C, marking the first time that the June and July temperatures have been reversed since data keeping began in 1973.

The 30-year average temperatures for June and July are 21.2 C and 24.5 C, respectively.

The KMA said this year's abnormal weather occurred because cold air had long stagnated in the upper and lower atmospheres over the Korean Peninsula from late June.

On top of that, the delayed northern expansion of the North Pacific high pressure with hot and humid air and its clash with cold air from the north led to a prolonged period of downpours and wet weather on the peninsula, the agency explained, attributing the phenomenon to unusually high temperatures in the Arctic.

Data from the World Meteorological Organization showed Siberia's average temperature between January and June this year was 5 C higher than the 30-year average, with the corresponding gap widening to above 10 C in June. Notably, the daily high in Verkhoyansk, Russia, surged to 38 C on June 20, with world meteorologists saying such an abnormality may have not occurred without global climate change.

The KMA said South Korea's annual average temperature will rise by 1.7 C to 4.4 C towards the end of the 21st century from the levels between 1981 to 2010, while the country's annual average precipitation volume will grow by 6.6 to 13.2 percent in the same period. (Yonhap)