TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is forecast to experience the earliest cold wave (寒流) since 2010 and the third-earliest in the past 30 years this weekend.
The U.S. National Weather Service defines a cold wave as a "rapid fall in temperature within 24 hours and extreme low temperatures for an extended period." The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) on its Facebook page on Tuesday evening (Dec. 13), predicted that the first cold wave of this winter will arrive on Friday (Dec. 16).
From the 1950s to the 1980s, Taiwan occasionally experienced cold snaps in November or even at the end of October. However, the CWB pointed out that over the past 30 years, cold winter weather seems to be arriving later and later each year, as late as December or even January.
This weekend's predicted cold wave would be the earliest in 12 years and the third-earliest in 30 years, trailing only Dec. 6, 1996 and Dec. 9, 2010. The CWB pointed out that before 1990, cold waves were more frequent and were not considered remarkable.
According to statistics from 1951 to 2021, the date of the first cold snap usually fell between December 4 and January 20 of the following year. The earliest cold snap in Taiwan’s history was October 26, 1968, and the latest was Feb. 21, 1990.
Cold and damp weather is expected to remain in place over Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 14-15). Due to the arrival of a high-pressure cold air area from the north, the CWB forecasts that the cold wave will arrive on Friday evening, with the lowest temperature in northern Taiwan reaching 6 degrees Celsius, while central, southern, and eastern parts of the country could see the temperature drop to between 8 and 10 degrees.
CWB forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping (官欣平) pointed out that northern Taiwan and Yilan will likely see the mercury drop to 6 or 7 degrees on Saturday through Monday (Dec. 17-19). The weather bureau stated that on Saturday and Sunday, there may be a chance of snowfall in mountainous areas above 3,000 meters, as well as mountainous regions in central and southern Taiwan over 2,000 meters.
