Taiwan is headed for a cool but dry spring this year after experiencing its coldest winter in 25 years, the Central Weather Bureau said in its climate forecast yesterday.
Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典), director of the bureau’s weather forecast center, said the joint influence of the La Nina effect and an Arctic oscillation in a negative phase had caused the nation to experience the coldest winter since 1986.
The Arctic oscillation refers to the fluctuations of atmospheric temperatures and pressures in the North Pole and is often cited by climatologists in explaining extreme weather. The surface pressure in the North Pole is low when the oscillation is in the positive phase, allowing the middle latitude jet stream to consistently blow from west to east and keeping the cold air in the polar region. When the oscillation is in the negative phase, however, the higher surface pressure in the Arctic area would force the cold air down to the middle latitude.
This would translate into relatively warmer temperatures in the polar region and colder -temperatures in the middle latitudes.
Cheng said the Arctic oscillation was expected to gradually return to the positive phase and the La Nina effect would continue to weaken as the nation enters the spring season.
“Overall, the weather in the spring would fall within the normal range after a La Nina year,” he said. “However, chances of having temperatures higher than normal are small and the overall rainfall is likely to fall on the lower side of the normal range.”
The bureau gave a long-term weather forecast for the spring, which officially starts this month and lasts until May.
In his presentation, Cheng showed the nation was hit by five cold waves from the end of December to the end of January.
“Before the end of December, the weather was mostly cold and dry,” Cheng said. “However, starting in January we started to have more cold and rainy days and the cold waves just kept coming one after another.”
The rainfall forecast for the spring was no comfort for the Water Resources Agency, as it had said earlier that both the Central Taiwan Science Park and Hsinchu Science Park could soon face water shortages.
While there could be less rain than normal this month, Cheng said the southwestern wind blown from the Indochinese peninsula could help increase the frequency and intensity of convective rain next month.
Meanwhile, the bureau said residents in northern parts of the country should brace for lows of 11oC after a cold air mass arrives today. Temperatures in central and southern Taiwan could drop to lows of 15oC and 17oC respectively.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard