Despite a decline in the number of typhoons forming in the Pacific Ocean, the number that hit Taiwan has slightly increased, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday
Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典), director of the bureau’s weather forecast center, said the chances of the nation being directly hit by typhoons would rise by 20 percent in the next 10 years.
The bureau unveiled the average temperature and rainfall between 1981 and last year, as the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) requires the climate average must include all data within the past 30 years. The data must also be updated every 10 years.
Cheng said an average of 25.7 typhoons formed in the Pacific Ocean between 1981 and last year, compared with 26.6 between 1971 and 2000. However, he said the average number of typhoons that hit Taiwan jumped from 3.1 to 3.6.
“The ascending current zone has moved from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, which explains why fewer typhoons were formed in the West Pacific Ocean in the past 30 years,” Cheng said. “In the meantime, the chances of a typhoon hitting Taiwan directly have increased owing to the influence of high air pressure in the Pacific Ocean, which in turn brings a tremendous amount of rain to the nation.”
While the bureau’s statistics showed the trend was clear, it said it had yet to make a definite correlation between warming and the occurrence of extreme weather, Cheng said.
Cheng said the average temperatures in all of the bureau’s observation stations between 1981 and last year were higher than the average temperatures between 1971 and 2000.
He said the average temperature in Taipei had risen from 22.6oC to 23oC, with the temperature increase more obvious in February and November. Aside from the southeast region, which showed a decrease in average rainfall, the rest of the country saw an increase, with large increases in Taipei, Keelung, Greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung.
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