The current water shortage is expected to worsen in the next few months, with the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday forecasting a colder, dryer winter than normal.
With winter starting next week, the bureau at a media briefing outlined the expected conditions through February and reviewed autumn’s significant weather events.
Weather Forecast Center director Lu Kuo-cheng (呂國臣) said that autumn this year had three major characteristics:
Photo: Hsiao Yu-hsin, Taipei Times
First, 13 tropical storms and typhoons formed from September to this month, up from 11 in the same period last year, Lu said.
Apart from Atsani, for which sea and land alerts were issued in Taiwan, the tropical storms and typhoons this autumn generally moved toward Japan or South Korea, or moved over the South China Sea, he said.
Second, as of Monday, the average temperature for autumn has been 25.9°C, 1.02°C higher than average, he said, adding that the figure would be the third-highest average for the whole season, behind 26.27°C in 2017 and 26.04°C in 2016.
Third, average rainfall was 354.8mm, 271.7mm less than average, Lu said.
Rainfall fell by more than 40 percent compared with autumn last year, he said.
Rain came from frontal systems, clouds in the circumfluence of typhoons or tropical storms, and the northeast monsoon, he said.
Most of the rain fell in Taiwan’s northeast, which had significantly more rainfall than the west coast, he said.
The bureau’s weather observation station near Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County recorded 86mm, the lowest rainfall reading since the station was established in 1941, Lu said.
The average in Chiayi County’s Alishan Township (阿里山) was the fifth-lowest since the station there was established, while stations in Taipei, New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), Hsinchu, Chiayi City, Taichung’s Wuci District (梧棲) and Taitung’s Chengkung Township (成功) are also reporting low autumn rainfall, which might make top 10 lists for dry years at each station, he said.
“The only months this year that had higher than average rainfall were May and August, while June, July and September had significantly less than average,” he said. “The average rainfall from June to this month was 902.5mm, or about 60 percent of the same period last year and the lowest since 1993.”
The rainy season in Taiwan ended earlier than usual this year, with no tropical storm or typhoons approaching the nation in July, Lu said.
Taiwan had similar conditions in 2014, when no tropical storm or typhoon made landfall in August.
Average rainfall from next month to February is expected to be from slightly below average to normal, he said.
Due to La Nina effect, the average temperature in the three months would be lower than normal, Lu said.
Next month, the average temperature would be warmer than usual, while January would be colder than normal, he said, adding that no forecast was available for February.
Cold waves are expected relatively frequently this winter, as La Nina tends to facilitate cold air from the north, Lu said.
Taiwan can expect about 6.6 days that are affected by cold waves this winter, he said.
La Nina is expected to gradually ease as spring arrives, he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai