Taiwan received only 78.5 hours of sunshine last month, about half the average for May, due to the frequent arrival of rain fronts during the plum rain season, the Central Weather Bureau told a news conference yesterday.
It was also the lowest number of sunshine hours the bureau has recorded for May, bureau Weather Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) said.
The plum rain season this year began around the middle of last month after the summer monsoon started affecting the South China Sea, Lu said.
Photo: CNA
The Pacific high-pressure system, a dominant influence in summer, had been weak from then until the middle of this month, Lu said, adding that summer did not begin in Taiwan until the second half of this month.
This year’s plum rain season was different from that of last year, as three rain fronts arrived on May 12, May 23 and June 3, Lu said.
“Each front brought rain that lasted for about four to five days, lowering temperatures nationwide,” he said.
Days of rain further shortened sunshine hours last month from the average of 148.8 hours to only 78.5 hours, Lu said.
The average amount of rainfall last month and this month so far is about 497.2mm, which is within the normal range, Lu said.
“Overall, rainfall in the north was more than that in the south, while rainfall last month exceeded that of this month,” Lu said.
The average amount of rainfall during the plum rain season generally reaches about 450mm to 500mm, which is about 20 percent of the total rainfall throughout the year, the bureau said.
Last month’s rainfall was the sixth-highest for May, while the number of rainy days last month was the fourth highest.
The bureau’s weather stations on Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), at Anbu (鞍部) and in Keelung also recorded the highest amount of rainfall for May since their establishment, Lu said.
The average temperature last month was 26.2°C, the fifth-lowest temperature on record for May, he said, adding that it was also the lowest average temperature in May recorded since 2000.
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