The temperature in Taipei broke an 82-year-old record yesterday, hitting 38.7℃ , according to the Central Weather Bureau.
Air currents from Typhoon Etau, now battering Japan, brought rainfall yesterday to eastern and southern Taiwan.
But in the drought-stricken north, people can walk across the dry bed of the Hsintien River.
The temperature hit the record at 1:05pm yesterday.
According to the bureau, the previous record of 38.6℃ was set on July 31, 1921.
"It's because Taipei Basin is on the leeward side in the summer when southwest wind blows," said Wu Wan-hua (
Wu said that the weather was affected by peripheral winds induced by Typhoon Etau.
In addition, foehn winds, warm dry winds coming off the lee slopes of a mountain range, heated the basin.
The highest temperature this year, 39.2℃ , was set on May 7 in Tawu township, Taitung County, due to the effects of foehn winds.
The all-time high record in Taiwan, 39.6℃ , was also set in Tawu in May 1998.
Weather forecasters said yesterday that residents in the north should be prepared for possible water shortages because the rainfall for this month and next month may remain low.
According to Chen Guay-hong (
"The sub-high currently covering part of China and all of Taiwan is extraordinarily strong this year," Chen said.
Beginning today, Keelung City will impose a second phase of water restrictions, which will affect some industrial users.
The measure is designed to limit the consumption of water at Keelung's Hsinshan Reservoir.
According to the Water Resources Agency, the reservoir will be empty by early next month in the absence of a heavy rainfall.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs will convene a meeting on Aug. 14 to review the latest rainfall records and water levels. The ministry will study the possibility of tighter water restrictions in the north.
Officials at the Feitsui Reservoir Administration under the Taipei City Government urged residents to conserve water.
The Feitsui Reservoir, one of the major water suppliers to the north, gained only 36.5mm of rainfall last month. It's level last month hit a record low for July.
Officials said that water supplies to the residential sector would not be affected before the end this month but added that tougher restrictions may be imposed in Taipei next month.
‘CORNERED ENEMY’: China’s rise is threatening peace and stability, and the US would aim to restrict it with help from allies in the Asia-Pacific, Soong Hseik-wen said A draft bill on protecting Taiwan from invasion is likely to be passed by the US Congress, but it remains to be seen how US President Joe Biden’s administration would implement the act if it is passed, Taiwanese academics said on Sunday. US Senator Rick Scott and US Representative Guy Reschenthaler on Thursday reintroduced the proposed Taiwan Invasion Prevention Act, which was shelved in September last year due to the impending US presidential election. Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a professor at National Chengchi University’s College of International Affairs, and Soong Hseik-wen (宋學文), a professor at National Chung Cheng University’s Graduate Institute
CHANGING IT UP: With Bopomofo rarely used outside of Taiwan, the lawmaker said that Romanization would help the government in its internationalization efforts Tainan City Councilor Lee Chi-wei (李啟維) yesterday called for the use of Romanized spellings to make Taiwanese dialects and languages internationally recognizable. Speaking at a news conference in Tainan to mark International Mother Language Day, Lee said the use of zhuyin fuhao (注音符號, Mandarin phonetic symbols commonly known as Bopomofo) made it difficult to promote interest in, or recognition of, the nation’s dialects and languages, as the system is not commonly used outside of Taiwan. “The legislature has already passed the Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法), but under the current circumstances that act is like a candle in the wind,” he
‘NOT COLD ENOUGH’: Schools are disregarding Premier Su Tseng-chang’s instruction that students may wear out-of-uniform clothing to stay warm, an association said An investigative report revealed that 72.5 percent of the nation’s senior-high schools and 95.6 percent of junior-high schools punish students for wearing unapproved winter clothes in contravention of educational guidelines, lawmakers and student rights advocates said yesterday. Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy said there is an endemic disregard for the Ministry of Education’s regulations and that private schools are more likely to contravene ministry rules. The report is a compilation of 2,856 student reports about dress code reinforcement at 425 high schools and vocational high schools, the association said. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)
‘DECADES OF WORK’: Children born this year could see a human mission to the Red Planet during their lifetime, Yen Cheng said, adding that the only obstacle is money When NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on the surface of Mars on Thursday after a seven-month journey, a Taiwan-born engineer was preparing to guide its first movements on the Red Planet. Yen Cheng (嚴正), a 61-year-old graduate of National Tsing Hua University and a 20-year veteran at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is taking part in his fourth Mars exploration mission with the agency’s Robot Interfaces and Visualization team, this time as its leader. Yen in a media interview described his expectations for the next few months as “living on Earth in Mars time.” As nighttime temperatures on Mars can drop
RSS