WEATHER FORECASTS TO BECOME MORE PRECISE

[Anchor Lead]

As Korea enters the rainy season, the Korea Meteorological Administration's weather forecasts will be playing a more crucial role in our daily lives. The nation's weather service promises more accurate and timely forecasts this year.

[Pkg]

Dozens of fishing boats are moored at the dock. These boats will not be going out to sea today because rain is in the forecast, with the arrival of the monsoon season.

[Soundbite] LEE JEONG-BOK(FISHERMAN) : "If it's foggy, it will be hard to navigate late at night or in the early morning. So we have to trust the weather forecasts."

Regular citizens are also sensitive to weather forecasts. They have to decide whether or not to grab an umbrella on their way out.

[Soundbite] KIM HUI-JUN(JEJU RESIDENT) : "I brought an umbrella but I'm kind of thrown off because it didn't rain today."

To make people's lives a little easier, the Korea Meteorological Administration introduced a "super short-term forecast" system this year. The super short-term forecast provides weather information within a six-hour window that is updated every ten minutes. Rapidly changing meteorological data like expected rainfall to movement of rain clouds are provided on a real-time basis. The KMA expects the new forecast system to provide weather information six times faster than the conventional 60-minute-cycle forecasts and boast an over-90% accuracy rate. The improvement can be attributed to the augmented algorithm that analyzes satellite images and climate observation data.

[Soundbite] KIM CHANG-MUN(JEJU REGIONAL OFFICE OF METEOROLOGY) : "Regular citizens can expect accurate weather information through the super short-term weather forecast system."

The enhanced weather forecasts can be checked on the the KMA homepage or the KMA mobile app.