The hot and sunny weather in which the nation has been basking is to end temporarily as a stationary front is forecast to arrive tomorrow and bring potentially disastrous rainfall, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Statistics from the bureau showed that the temperature in Taipei rose to 35.4°C at 12:22pm yesterday, because of the temperature inversion phenomenon brought by the southwest wind. Meanwhile, the foehn wind caused the mercury in Taitung County’s Dawu (大武) to reach 36.3°C. However, the sunny weather is to be followed by days of rain that would start tomorrow due to the arrival of a stationary front, the bureau said.
Fred Tsai (蔡甫甸), a specialist at the bureau’s weather forecast center, said that the data collected so far indicate that the stationary front was normal for the plum rain season, but it could bring disastrous amounts of rain.
The public needs to be aware of the potential damage the rainfall could inflict, he said.
Meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said the sunny weather had carried over from the weekend because Typhoon Dolphin was about to make a turn and head north.
“However, the phenomenon caused a high pressure region in the west to extend its influence to Taiwan, making it impossible for the stationary front to move south,” Wu said. “This explains why the weather has been sunny and stable, except for isolated showers in mountainous areas.”
Wu said that the high pressure would weaken after the typhoon moves away today. He added that a southwest monsoon is to strengthen and approach Taiwan instead, bringing convective rain to the west coast.
Wu said the nation would be under the combined influences of the southwest monsoon and the stationary front. These two phenomena would facilitate the development of convection cells, as well as a meso-scale convective system, he said.
“Even though these convective systems tend to move fast, they could lead to the occurrence of severe weather, from thunderstorms and strong winds to heavy precipitation and hail,” he said. “These convective systems could continue to occur and pass through the same area sequentially, which in turn could devastate those areas further.”
If a convective system moves slowly, Wu warned that the heavy precipitation it brings could exceed the limit an area can bear and lead to disasters.
While many people want to know where the convective cells or systems will appear and how much rainfall they might bring, Wu said current technology does not allow for accurate predictions.
Wu said the bureau can detect the formation of the convective cells through radar, satellite imagery and lightning detection systems, and give out real-time forecasts and warnings.
The bureau forecast that the interaction of the southwest monsoon and the stationary front would affect the entire nation from tomorrow to Saturday. The front is forecast to move south to the Bashi Channel on Sunday.
“Disaster prevention agencies might have had a test run with the rain brought by Typhoon Noul, but this time the task will not be so easy,” Wu said.
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