Starting on Jan. 1, people can check out the weather forecast for any township online, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday.
At present, the bureau provides forecasts for only 21 cities and counties. The current system uses information gathered through the bureau’s observation stations in the mountains or plains areas nationwide and use them to forecast the weather for an entire city or county.
The problem with the current system is it does not take into account an area’s geography and how it influences the weather, the bureau said.
For example, the weather in two regions in the same country may be completely different if one lies in the windward area and the other in the leeward zone, it said.
People can also feel the difference in weather if they are in the mountains, forests, metropolitan or coastal areas.
The bureau therefore decided to narrow the area for basing its forecasts — from city/county levels to townships, weather forecast center deputy director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) said.
Starting in January, the public will be able to check weather forecasts for the nation’s 368 townships.
Though the bureau does not have observation stations in all 368 townships, Lu said it could still make forecasts based on information gathered from nearby areas.
In related news, the bureau yesterday forecast that temperatures would drop nationwide today after the first frontal system this fall arrived yesterday afternoon.
Temperatures will drop to 27oC in the north, 30oC in the south, 27oC in the east and 29oC in central Taiwan. Chances of rain are high in the north, northeast, east and south because of the combined effect of Typhoon Nalgae’s circumfluence with the northeast monsoon.
Those living in the north and northeast should brace themselves for potential extremely heavy rains, the bureau added.
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