Note: My family recently relocated to Seoul, where my wife is working as a foreign correspondent for NPR. This post is the first in an occasional series profiling the peninsula's demographics and politics (and occasionally weather).

I enjoy Austin, and I still consider it "home," even after moving to Washington, D.C., and, now, Seoul. But one of my top complaints about the Texas capital is the blazing summer heat. And by "summer" I mean March to October, essentially. In 2011, the year we left, there were 69 days in which the high temperature reached triple digits — only tying a record.

So, yes, I've enjoyed D.C.'s relatively temperate weather, despite the occasional winter snow or those few sticky days in August. But I wasn't sure what to expect in Seoul, other than I suspected the winters were chilly. Turns out the temperatures are much like those in D.C., which makes sense because both cities are near the 38th north parallel above the Equator.

These simple charts show the average high and low temperatures in each place:

[iframe src="https://thedailyviz.com/weather/high-temperature.html" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" height="410px"]

[iframe src="https://thedailyviz.com/weather/low-temperature.html" width="100%" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" height="410px"]

Tomorrow, I'll chart the average number of rainy days — and the average monthly rainfall totals — in each place. Hint: Summer is the rainy season in Seoul.

Sources: WorldWeatherOnline.com (average temps.); Highcharts JS (charting library); ColorBrewer (color palette).