Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south.
In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said.
By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said.
Photo courtesy of Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area
In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said.
It began snowing on Yushan North Peak in Nantou County at about 9:20am, as the temperature dropped to minus-5°C.
In Taitung, snow blanketed the Lake Jiaming Trail by noon after falling from the early hours of yesterday, a local mountaineering group said.
Meanwhile, soft hail began falling in Yilan County’s Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area at about 5am, when temperatures fell to 0°C, the recreation area’s personnel said.
The cold spell is expected to send the mercury down to below 10°C across Taiwan proper from last night to Thursday, before weakening on Friday, when the weather is forecast to become warmer, meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said yesterday.
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