Taipei: The heavy downpours that have been affecting northern Taiwan this week are expected to continue throughout Wednesday and into Thursday, as a low-pressure system east of the country is bringing more moisture, according to forecasters. The persistent rain is not anticipated to ease until Saturday, though it will not completely stop, as stated by Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Liu Pei-teng.
According to Focus Taiwan, the windward areas of Greater Taipei, Taoyuan, and Yilan are currently experiencing the heaviest rainfall, which the CWA categorizes as torrential. Extremely heavy to torrential rain is expected to persist throughout Wednesday in the Greater Taipei area and northern Keelung, as well as in Yilan County, with potential easing during the night. The CWA issued rain advisories on Wednesday for mountainous areas of Taipei and New Taipei, including Wuzhishan and Dongshan in Xizhi District, warning of torrential to extremely torrential rainfall during the day.
Advisories were also
announced for northern Keelung, Taipei, and Yilan County, which are expected to see extremely heavy to torrential rain, while other parts of Keelung, New Taipei, and Taoyuan are likely to experience heavy or extremely heavy rain, according to the CWA. Residents in these areas are advised to be aware of the risk of landslides, rockfalls, mudflows, and flash floods, the CWA cautioned.
Under CWA’s rain advisories, torrential rain is defined as accumulated rainfall of 350 mm or more within 24 hours, while extremely torrential rain means accumulated rainfall of 500 mm or more over a 24-hour period. Heavy rain is defined as accumulated rainfall of 80 millimeters or more within a 24-hour period or 40 mm or more in an hour, while extremely heavy rain refers to accumulated rainfall of 200 mm or more within 24 hours.
The CWA has attributed the recent heavy downpours in northern Taiwan to the influence of the northeast monsoon and the low-pressure system east of the country. While there is little chance that the syste
m will develop into a storm, it is likely to cause continued heavy precipitation in northern Taiwan, Liu explained. A former head of the CWA, Cheng Ming-tien, has forecast that the system may develop into a storm, noting in a Facebook post that radar imagery shows strong convection tightening at the center of the system, which could lead to the “small low pressure system becoming a typhoon” if the conditions persist.
Meanwhile, temperatures will remain cool on Wednesday, with highs of 22 to 31 degrees Celsius across Taiwan, according to the CWA.
