A cold wave that arrived yesterday would affect the nation until Wednesday, with low temperatures in the northern and eastern regions dropping to 6°C, the Central Weather Bureau said.
The cold wave and frontal rain caused highs in Taipei to fall from 22°C in the early morning to 15°C, the bureau said.
By 4:30pm, the temperature in New Taipei City’s Cape Fugei (富貴角) had fallen to 7.9°C, it said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The combination of low temperatures and high humidity might cause snow to fall on Yushan (玉山) and Hehuanshan (合歡山) between tonight and tomorrow morning, the bureau said.
Bureau Deputy Director-General Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) wrote on Facebook that the phenomenon, where temperatures drop by more than 8°C be below 10°C within 24 hours, is called a “cold air outbreak.”
In the bureau’s observation station on Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), an island north of Taiwan, temperatures dropped by 6°C to 7°C within two to three hours, Cheng added.
The bureau said that temperatures are forecast to hit their lowest from tonight to early tomorrow morning.
Lows north of Tainan, as well as in Yilan and Hualien counties, could dip to 7°C to 11°C, it said, adding that temperatures in some coastal areas might drop to 6°C.
The lows in Kaohsiung, as well as Pingtung and Taitung counties, could slide to 12°C to 13°C, the bureau said.
Daytime temperatures in the north are not likely to exceed 12°C, while highs in the rest of the nation could reach about 20°C, it said.
From Wednesday to Friday, temperatures nationwide are to rebound, as the cold wave is to gradually weaken, with highs expected to exceed 20°C, the bureau said, adding that highs on Thursday and Friday could reach 23°C.
Except for showers along the east coast, cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for the rest of the nation, it said.
In related news, experts yesterday dismissed an online rumor that clouds have been carrying a new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 from China’s Chongquing and Hubei Province.
“The virus is mainly transmitted through human-to-human contact and through droplet infection. Aerosol transmission of the virus would only be possible in closed or semi-closed spaces,” said Wang Chia-cheng (王家蓁), director of Aerosol Science Research Center at National Chung Shan University, in an article published in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times).
Environmental Protection Administration officials also dismissed the rumor.
Additional reporting by Liu Li-jen
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