Last year was the warmest on record, with an average temperature of 24.56°C, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
Except for 1998, which had an average temperature of 24.39°C, the rest of the nation’s top 10 warmest years have all been in the 21st century, including 2017 and 2016 with average temperatures of 24.4°C, 2015 at 24.3°C, 2018 at 24.22°C, 2006 at 24.15°C, 2002 at 24.17°C, 2007 at 24.13°C and 2009 at 23.99°C, the bureau said.
A rise in average temperatures from January to April last year was the main reason for it being the warmest year since 1947, when the bureau began collecting meteorological data, CWB Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) said.
“Continental cold air masses were generally weak and occurred less frequently in those four months. That resulted in the nation not being under the influence of cold air masses as much last year,” Lu said.
“Except for cooler weather in May, the weather in the remaining months of the year was generally slightly warmer than normal, making last year the nation’s warmest,” he said.
Although the bureau has forecast that this winter would be normal to warm, this and next month are to remain the coldest months of the year, Lu said, adding that the bureau does not exclude the possibility of strong cold air masses and cold fronts in that period.
The bureau has not detected the possible formation of a cold air system in the next two weeks, he said.
From this month to March, there would be normal to slightly higher-than-average temperatures, with slightly less than normal rainfall, he added.
Last year, rainfall mostly occurred in the plum rain season and the summer, particularly in May and August, the bureau said.
With the exception of the southeast, which saw less accumulated rainfall than usual, Taiwan experienced normal to more-than-normal accumulated rainfall, it said.
The bureau forecast that the nation would today be under the influence of the northeast monsoon, with lows in the north and northeast dropping to between 14°C and 15°C, while lows in other parts of Taiwan would be about 16°C to 17°C.
Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan would not exceed 20°C, the bureau said, adding that the rest of the nation would see daytime temperatures rise to between 21°C and 25°C.
The chance of isolated showers remains high in eastern Taiwan, as well as Taipei and New Taipei City, while the rest of the nation should see sunny skies, it said.
Rogue waves could occur on the north and east coasts, as well as the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), it added.
The northeast monsoon is expected to weaken slightly tomorrow, with warm and comfortable weather during the day, although temperatures would remain low in the early morning and late at night, the bureau said.
Cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for Friday and Saturday, with a high chance of showers on the east coast, it said.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
FRAUD ISSUES: The app meets none of Taiwan’s 15 cybersecurity standards, and in the past year, about 1,706 fraud cases have been identified on it The Ministry of the Interior yesterday ordered Taiwanese Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, also known as RedNote in English) for a year, after detecting hundreds of instances of fraud on the platform. The ISPs have been instructed to block access to the app to its more than 3 million users in Taiwan, effective immediately, Deputy Minister of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) told a news conference at the National Police Agency’s Fraud Prevention Center. The order is being implemented via protocols governing domain name system (DNS) response policy zones, he said. Xiaohongshu meets none
RSS