Those planning to spend New Year’s Eve outdoors may need to bundle up, as the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast yesterday that the temperature in the north could drop to 5°C.
The weather forecast showed that temperatures began sliding after a cold front arrived yesterday. A low-temperature warning was issued yesterday for Matsu, Kinmen, the coastal areas north of Tainan as well as the northeast region of Taiwan as temperatures were expected to drop below 10°C last night.
Meanwhile, the bureau said the cold front would exert its strongest force from tonight until early tomorrow morning, when the mercury is likely to slump to 5°C in the north and about 10°C in central and southern Taiwan.
PHOTO: CNA
The temperature in Taipei is likely to go down to 7°C.
CWB forecaster Hsieh Ming-chang (謝明昌) said the temperature would start to rise on Sunday after the cold front eases.
The bureau yesterday also offered an innovative service this year allowing people to catch a glimpse of the first sunlight tomorrow at Yushan (玉山) and on Orchid Island, or Lanyu (蘭嶼), through an online simulcast.
The bureau said it had set up video cameras in its observation stations on Yushan and Orchid Island.
The broadcast will actually start this evening at 5:05pm, when people will see the last sunset of this year from Yushan at 5:31pm.
Between 11:50pm and 12:10am, the observation stations on Yushan and Orchid Island will join 23 other CWB stations for the final countdown to the new year.
The two stations are scheduled to broadcast the sunrise on the first day of the year from 6:10am to 6:40am tomorrow.
According to the bureau, the sunrise on Yushan and Orchid Island will occur at 6:27am and 6:30am respectively.
To watch the simulcast, visit the CWB’s Web site at www.cwb.gov.tw and click on the icon labeled “[ROC Year] 99 to 100 New Year’s Eve and Greeting the Sunrise online simulcast” (99-100跨年迎曦網路直播).
The bureau last week recommended several places where people can watch early sunrises. Kenting (墾丁) in Pingtung County and Sansiantai (三仙台) along the southeastern coast in Taitung County will both see the sun rise at 6:35am. The sunrise in Sandiaojiao (三貂角) is expected to take place at 6:37am.
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