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.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS