Taiwan now has its own solar terms, or the 24 points in the traditional solar calendar, after the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) made adjustments based on local climate information.
CWB division chief Liu Zai-ming (柳再明), who led the project, said the nation has been using the solar terms that originated from the Yellow River area in China, which is not always congruent with actual situations in Taiwan.
As an example, Liu said the solar term “Rain Water” (雨水) lasts from Feb. 19 to March 5 in the lunar calendar, when Taiwan’s central and southern regions are actually in their dry season.
Based on statistics collected in the past 30 years, Liu said, Taiwan’s Southern region could only accumulate rainfall of 52.7mm at best during the “Rain Water” period. The northern region, on the other hand, is then still under the influence of the northeast monsoon and temperatures are still low.
Another example would be the solar term “Start of Winter” (立冬), when Taiwanese are supposed to want to eat hot, nutritious food to keep warm. Traditionally, the term refers to the two weeks lasting from Nov. 7 to Nov. 22.
The bureau, however, found the average temperature recorded locally in the “Start of Winter” period is 22.9oC, with the average high reaching 26.6oC.
The new solar terms divide Taiwan into northern, southern, western and eastern regions. The terms will be labeled based on weather information collected between 1981 and 2010, which includes rainfall, temperature, wind speed, clouds and sunlight.
People should supplement the use of the solar terms after the “autumnal equinox” (秋分) with the bureau’s weather forecasts, Lu said.
He added that farmers rely heavily on the solar terms to sow and to harvest the crops, but there exists a one-month lag between traditional Chinese solar terms and the actual weather in Taiwan.
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