The mercury in Taipei hit 39.3°C yesterday afternoon, the highest temperature recorded in the city by the Central Weather Bureau since records began 117 years ago.
The city’s observation station has been in the plaza in front of the bureau’s headquarters on Gongyuan Road since 1896.
Data from the bureau showed that the city’s previous record high temperature was set on Aug. 9, 2003, when the temperature reached 38.8°C.
Photo: CNA
The bureau said the temperature rose to 38.8°C at 1:16pm yesterday, which tied the record set in 2003. It went up further to 38.9°C at 1:44pm, setting a new record, but that did not last long, as the temperature reached 39.3°C at 1:58pm.
Aside from being the highest temperature recorded in the city, the temperature yesterday was also the seventh-highest temperature recorded in the nation in 117 years.
Data from the bureau also showed that most of the historic high temperatures in Taipei have occurred in the past 10 years.
The nation’s highest temperature was recorded in Taitung City on May 9, 2004, when the mercury hit 40.2°C.
The high temperature in Taitung was caused by a foehn wind, the bureau said.
The second-highest temperature of 39.9°C was recorded in Taichung City on July 1, 2004. That was followed by 39.7°C recorded in Taitung City on May 7, 1988, and 39.5°C in Taitung City on June 7, 1942.
Cheng Ming-dean (鄭明典), director of the bureau’s weather forecast center, said the high temperature in Taipei was caused by a wind from the south and the fact that the capital lies in a basin.
He said it is rare for Taiwan to experience extreme weather conditions because of the mutual influence of winds from inland and from the sea. Taipei was the nation’s only city that experienced such an extremely high temperature yesterday, he said.
The bureau said that the weather may cool tomorrow when a high-pressure system in the Pacific is expected to start moving north. A wet weather system from the south could move north close to Taiwan, which would increase the chances of afternoon thundershowers on the west coast, it said.
From Monday to Wednesday, winds from the southeast are expected to increase the chances of rain in the southeast, east and the north, the bureau said.
As the temperature rose in Taipei yesterday, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Labor launched inspections at construction sites and other outdoor workplaces to prevent workers from getting heat stroke.
The department instructed employers and construction site managers to allow workers to take a 30-minute break after working for four hours when the temperature rises to or above 36°C.
Employers should also provide rest areas with shade and cease work at noon among other measures to prevent heat stroke, the department said.
Department of Labor Chief Secretary Wu Meng-lin (吳夢麟) said the department conducts regular inspections during summer to assure the safety of workers outdoors.
Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government’s Department of Environmental Protection dispatched 12 street sweepers to spray water on streets to cool the temperature in the city, while also keeping the streets clean.
Department of Environmental Protection Division Chief Chiu Kuo-shu (邱國書) said the temperature of asphalt roads can rise as high as 54°C in summer and spraying water on the road can cool the temperature of the asphalt to about 49°C.
The street sweepers used recycled water from the Dihua Sewage Treatment Plant and the Neihu Sewage Treatment Plant. The department has used 3,155 tonnes of recycled water to cool the city’s roads or clean the streets so far this year, he said.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would