The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday that the proliferation of typhoons this summer could be caused by the record strength of this year’s La Nina effect. Following a number of tropical storms and typhoons in July and last month, Taiwan has been hit by a typhoon almost every week this month, which the bureau said could be attributable to the westward migration of warm seas.
CWB Forecast Center Director Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that when storms are formed further away from Taiwan, they gain enough momentum on their way to the country to develop into stronger storms.
Under normal weather conditions, storms usually form around Guam, the bureau said, but as the severe La Nina effect from last July to this July had caused the northwestern Pacific Ocean to be unusually cool, it was difficult for winds to form.
PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
As such, the warmer sea regions migrated to east of the Philippines, where all of the first six typhoons this year were formed, the CWB said, adding that when they hit Taiwan, they were almost all mild storms.
In related news, a day ahead of Super Typhoon Jangmi’s arrival, Taipei City’s vegetable prices shot up 14 percent, with the costs of leafy vegetables and fruits increasing 20 percent.
Spring onions now cost as much as NT$86 per kilogram, cilantro broke the NT$300 per kilogram mark, and fruit has uniformly broken the NT$70 per kilogram benchmark, with tomatoes costing NT$110 per kilogram.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
While Typhoon Sinlaku caused NT$890 million in agricultural losses two weeks ago, Jangmi had brought Taipei’s fruit and vegetable prices to NT$35.2 per kilogram — more than the Council of Agriculture’s NT$25 to NT$35 bracket for “reasonable prices.”
Hsu Hang-ching (許漢卿), director of the council’s agriculture and food agency, said it would regulate the market more aggressively, possibly releasing the government’s 900 tonne stock of frozen and refrigerated vegetables if necessary.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LIN SHIU-TZI AND CHANG CHUN-WEI
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