The heavy downpours that have been drenching northern Taiwan this week are expected to continue throughout today and into tomorrow, as a low-pressure system east of the country is bringing more moisture, forecasters said.
The heavy rain is not likely to ease until Saturday, although it would not stop entirely, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said today.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Currently, the windward areas of greater Taipei, Taoyuan and Yilan County are experiencing the heaviest rainfall, which is categorized by the CWA as torrential, he said.
Extremely heavy to torrential rain is expected to continue throughout the day today in the greater Taipei area and northern Keelung, as well as in Yilan County, with a chance of easing during the night, Liu said.
The CWA today issued rain advisories for mountainous areas of Taipei and New Taipei City, including Wuzhishan (五指山) and Dongshan (東山) in Sijhih District (汐止), warning of torrential to extremely torrential rainfall during the day.
Advisories were also issued for northern Keelung, Taipei and Yilan County, which are expected to see extremely heavy to torrential rain, while other parts of Keelung, New Taipei City and Taoyuan are likely to experience heavy or extremely heavy rain, the CWA said.
People in those areas are advised to be aware of the risk of landslides, rockfalls, mudflows and flash floods, the CWA said.
Under the CWA's rain advisories, torrential rain is defined as accumulated rainfall of 350mm or more within 24 hours, while extremely torrential rain means accumulated rainfall of 500mm or more over a 24-hour period.
Heavy rain is defined as accumulated rainfall of 80mm or more within a 24-hour period or 40mm or more in an hour, while extremely heavy rain refers to accumulated rainfall of 200mm or more within 24 hours.
The CWA has attributed the recent heavy downpours to the influence of the northeast monsoon and a low-pressure system east of the country.
While there is little chance that the system would develop into a storm, it is likely to cause continued heavy precipitation in northern Taiwan, Liu said.
However, a former head of the CWA has forecast that the system may develop into a storm.
Radar imagery shows strong convection that seems to be tightening at the center of the system, Cheng Ming-tien (鄭明典) said in a Facebook post.
If that continues for another cycle, the "small low pressure system could become a typhoon," he said.
Meanwhile, temperatures would be cool today, with highs of 22°C to 31°C across Taiwan, the CWA said.
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