The Central Weather Bureau yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Muifa and said chances of rain today were high nationwide because of the system’s circumfluence.
The bureau said the sea alert applied to areas off the nation’s northern and northeastern coasts.
For today, the bureau said the northern and northeastern regions could start seeing rain around noon. Southern regions could also see rain starting tonight.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
As of 8:30pm, Muifa’s center was 710km east of Taipei, moving west-northwest toward Okinawa, Japan, at a speed of 11kph. Maximum wind speeds were 53m per second, while the radius of the storm was 280km.
The bureau said the typhoon would be closer to Taiwan tomorrow, but whether it would issue a land warning depended on the force of the high air pressure over the Pacific Ocean.
Lin Hsiu-wen (林秀雯), deputy director of the bureau’s Weather Forecast Center, said the typhoon was likely to turn north after passing through Okinawa and Miyako Islands.
She said the typhoon would likely move farther away from Taiwan on Sunday.
The storm could come close to the northern coast of Taiwan, she said.
“However, if the high air pressure is stronger than expected, the storm could make landfall in the northern parts of the nation,” she said.
Although Muifa is not likely to make landfall, the bureau warned that its circumfluence and the southwest air stream that generally comes after the departure of a typhoon will continue to bring rain to the country.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique