The nation must brace for the possibility of heavy precipitation this spring because of the combined influence of the reduced El Nino effect and high air pressure lingering in the Philippines, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
The bureau gave its rainfall and temperature forecasts for this month through May yesterday as the nation marked the start of spring.
Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典), director of the bureau's forecast center, said the El Nino effect culminated at the end of December and began gradually easing by the middle of January.
At the moment, seawater near the equator and the East Pacific Ocean remains warm, an indicator of the lingering El Nino effect, he said. Though its effect will not be as forceful, El Nino will continue to influence the country through May.
Cheng said the bureau forecast that average temperatures during these three months would very likely be close to or exceeding the normal range. Rainfall, on the other hand, was forecast to be close to normal.
“The question is not the amount of rainfall that we can expect this year,” Cheng said. “What we are about to see is strong convective precipitation that falls in certain areas within a short period of time, which makes this year more alarming than any other year over the past decade.”
Cheng said the nation must prepare for the potential damage brought by such precipitation, particularly as the soil in mountainous areas is still loose and soft after the mudflows caused by Typhoon Morakot last August.
The bureau's analysis shows that the situation this year is very similar to that in 2005, which was also an El Nino year.
Bureau records show that accumulated rainfall in 2005 was the highest in the last 10 years, with about 200 days of rain exceeding standards set for heavy rain. Heavy rainfall was also experienced between February and June in 2005.
Cheng said the bureau had a confidence rating of 50 percent in its forecast for spring rain.
He said Taiwan generally has more rainfall in the spring of an El Nino year once the high air pressure in the Philippines emerges. He added that the results of the Asia Pacific Climate Center's computer simulated tests also point to the nation experiencing more rain this spring.
“The bureau has to take the risk of being wrong and warned the nation the in advance,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS