TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minus 2.6 C was recorded in "Taiwan's Switzerland" on Tuesday (Dec. 27) morning, while a northeast monsoon is predicted to arrive on Wednesday (Dec. 28), likely bringing heavy rain to northern and eastern Taiwan from Thursday through New Year's Eve (Dec. 29-31).
Temperatures across Taiwan this morning were still cold, with lows across the western half of Taiwan ranging between nine and 12 C, the eastern half ranging between 14 and 16 C, and in Kaohsiung and areas north seeing the mercury drop below 10 C.
The lowest temperature in the plains this morning was 5.2 C recorded in Hsinchu County's Emei Township, while Fushoushan Farm, known as "Taiwan's Switzerland" in Taichung City's Heping District, reported a low of 2.6 C, causing frost to cover cars and clothing.
Lin Hsiao-ju (林孝儒) a WeatherRisk analyst, said that some rainfall is likely to occur in the northern and eastern half of the country from Wednesday to the weekend. Lin said that the daily accumulated rainfall from Thursday to New Year's Eve may reach the level of heavy rain due to the northeast monsoon.
Lin said that when the northeast monsoon arrives on Wednesday, temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan Country will see a temperature range of 14 to 17 C, central Taiwan and Hualien will see a range of 14 to 23 C, and southern Taiwan and eastern Taiwan will see a range of 14 to 26 C. However, due to radiative cooling, Lin said there is still a chance that lows in flat areas of western Taiwan could drop to between 11 and 13 C.
As for central and southern Taiwan, Lin said the skies would be partly cloudy to sunny. Although there is a chance that cloud cover in these areas will increase on Thursday and Friday (Dec. 30), Lin predicted little rainfall.
Lin advised the public that when arranging itineraries from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, they should pay attention to the forecast for rainfall in the northern and eastern half of the country.
Lin forecast that the northeast monsoon will weaken from New Year's Day to Monday (Jan. 1-2) and the temperature in various areas will rise by about 1 to 2 degrees. However, Lin predicted that there would be another cold front heading south on Monday evening, impacting the country for several days and bringing colder weather.
According to Lin, it remains to be seen whether the next cold front will take the form of a northeast monsoon or a continental cold air mass, but it will not bring much moisture, so rainfall in the northeast will likely diminish next week.