The Central Weather Bureau yesterday said it is closely monitoring the development of a convective cloud system in the central equatorial Pacific Ocean, which could limit spring rainfall and worsen the nation’s drought.
Bureau forecast center director Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典) said on Facebook that the system was close to the international date line and would trigger a massive atmospheric fluctuation, in which the downdraft air current could affect local weather starting next week, possibly reducing rainfall.
“It [the phenomenon] is not good news for Taiwan, which is already suffering from a water shortage,” he said.
Photo: CNA
Cheng added that meteorologists have since spring last year offered various theories on whether the so-called “el Nino” effects would develop soon, but also ran into problems pursuing the research.
“The convection in the Central Pacific Ocean and the west wind that it caused are a signal of the intraseasonal oscillation in the short term,” he said. “In the medium and long term, the [US] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that el Nino is here already and would continue to develop.”
Temperatures are set to drop today due to the arrival of a cold front last night, Cheng said, adding that the cold weather would continue until Wednesday.
The bureau had said Taiwan faces a 50 percent chance of normal spring rainfall, but a 30 percent chance that rainfall would be below normal and just a 20 percent chance of surpassing norms.
The drought is not likely to ease until May, when the plum rain season begins, the bureau added.
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