Temperatures plummeted across Taiwan yesterday as a wet cold wave engulfed the country, but the weather should turn drier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area on the main island was recorded in Miaoli County’s Dahe Village (大河) at 4.6oC at 6:30am, followed by 4.8oC in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and 5.1oC in Hsinchu County’s Sinfong Township (新豐), CWA data showed.
Nationwide, the lowest temperatures registered in low-lying areas were measured on outlying islands just off the coast of Fujian Province in China.
Photo: CNA
The lowest readings were 1.5oC on Dongyin Island (東引), 1.7oC on Nangan Island (南竿) and 2.1oC on Beigan Island (北竿) — all in Lienchiang County.
The CWA has issued a cold surge advisory warning of lows below 6oC through tonight for Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taichung and Taoyuan, as well as Changhua, Chiayi, Hsinchu, Kinmen, Miaoli, Nantou, Yilan and Yunlin counties.
It also warned of temperatures about 10oC or below and steady temperatures of no higher than 12oC in Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi City and Hsinchu City, as well as Hualien and Taitung counties.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The CWA expected lows of about 10oC in Pingtung County, while warning that temperatures could dip below 2oC in Lienchiang County.
With the cold expected to continue into early tomorrow, the lows today could hit 7oC to 10oC in western Taiwan and Yilan and Hualien, and 10oC to 12oC in Taitung, with cloudy or sunny skies expected over most parts of the island, it said.
However, rain might fall in parts of northern and eastern Taiwan exposed to prevailing winds and in mountainous areas in central Taiwan, the agency said.
Photo: CNA
A wind advisory over land is also in place until early this morning for Keelung, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan and the Hengchun Peninsula, in addition to the outlying Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties.
Some mountainous areas in the northern half of Taiwan were also dusted with snow yesterday morning.
Snow began to fall on Taiwan’s highest mountain, the 3,952m Yushan (玉山) in Nantou County, late on Monday night, and 4cm had accumulated there as of 9am yesterday.
It also snowed lightly yesterday morning on Taipingshan (太平山) in Yilan County, in indigenous mountainous areas in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, and on Hsiaohsuehshan (小雪山) and Tianchih (天池) in the Dasyueshan Forest Recreation Area in Taichung.
On Yangmingshan (陽明山) in Taipei, rain mixed with snow was seen early yesterday morning, which then became rain mixed with hail, resulting in a light covering of about 1cm of snow.
Residents of Beigan saw the rare sight of falling graupel (soft hail) at Bishan (壁山), its highest peak of 298m, on Monday night and yesterday morning, in addition to about 5cm of snow, local officials said.
Those eager to head to the mountains to get a glimpse of the snow should be careful of icy roads and possible traffic controls, they said.
Snow chains might be required to enter some areas, and vehicles might be prohibited in others, where visitors can only enter on foot, they said.
As of press time last night, Hsin Kwang Elementary, Hsiujuan Elementary, Yufeng Elementary and Shilei Elementary in Hsinchu County had canceled school for today due to the cold, while Yangmingshan Elementary School in Taipei canceled afterschool care.
In Taoyuan, Balung Elementary, Guang Hua Elementary, San Guang Elementary and Gao Yi Elementary canceled school today due to icy roads.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
RSS