Tue, Jun 30, 2026 page2

• Taiwan logs wettest plum rain season since 2012

  • Staff writer, with CNA
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  Taiwan recorded its wettest plum rain season since 2012, with rainfall at the Taipei weather station setting a record for June, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today.

  This year's plum rain season, which runs from May to June, was marked by below-average rainfall last month but significantly heavier rain this month, CWA Weather Forecast Center Director Huang Treng-shi (黃椿喜) told a news conference on the upcoming typhoon season.

  This month’s rainfall could be attributed to stationary fronts, southwesterly airflows and the outer circulation of a tropical storm, which brought widespread rain to western Taiwan, he said.

  

  Vehicles drive along a flooded section of road in an undated photograph. The Central Weather Administration today announced that Taiwan recorded its wettest plum rain season since 2012 this year.

  Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

  Rain fell for more than 10 days during the first half of this month, with southern Taiwan receiving 400mm to 800mm of accumulated rainfall, Huang said.

  Near the end of this month, hourly rainfall reached 80mm to 130mm in western Taiwan, while parts of Pingtung County in the south recorded nearly 1,000mm over three days, he said.

  Nationwide rainfall during this year’s plum rain season averaged 609.9mm, well above the historical average of 440.7mm and was the highest since 2012, when there was 902mm of rainfall, the CWA said.

  Meanwhile, the Taipei weather station recorded 870.5mm of rain this month, making it the wettest June since records began in 1897, surpassing previous records of 757.7mm in 1991 and 711.6mm in 1947.

  Looking ahead, normal to above-normal temperatures and near-normal rainfall could be expected in Taiwan from next month through September, the CWA said.

  Three to five tropical storms or typhoons are forecast to pass near Taiwan during the second half of the year, within the historical average, the weather agency said.

  In contrast, the total number of tropical storms forming over the northwestern Pacific is forecast to be normal to slightly below normal, it said.

  Eight tropical storms formed in the northwestern Pacific between January and this month, well above the historical average of 4.3 for the period, the CWA said.

  It also marked only the third time on record that a tropical storm had formed in every month from January through June, following 1965 and 2015, the agency said.

  Warming sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific indicate that El Nino is developing and is likely to persist into next spring, Huang said.

  During El Nino years, tropical storms tend to form farther east over the Pacific, allowing more time to intensify over warm ocean waters and increasing the likelihood of stronger storms, he said.

  The CWA said it expects typhoon activity to be relatively strong next month before becoming less so in August and September.

  Beginning tomorrow, the first day of Taiwan's typhoon season, the CWA is to introduce new coastal wave warnings.

  Cell broadcast alerts are to be issued when waves of 6m or higher are forecast along coastal areas.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taiwan in Time: The world’s once-most-attended elementary school turns 130

  • 2

    Japan denies ‘harassment’ of Chinese aircraft carrier

  • 3

    Torrential rain shuts down parts of Taiwan

  • 4

    China using ‘free trip’ as united front tactic: source

  • 5

    Allies in Taipei condemn Chinese drills off eastern Taiwan