Several mountains in northern and central Taiwan yesterday had their first snow of the winter amid a cold wave, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.
Lalashan (拉拉山) in Taoyuan, which ranges from 1,500m to 2,130m in altitude, had its first snowfall of the season at about 6am, the city’s tourism office said.
The Lalashan Forest Reserve (拉拉山自然保護區), home to more than 120 Formosan cypresses estimated to be more than 500 years old, was also covered with snow.
Photo: CNA
Snow started falling on the 3,416m Hehuanshan (合歡山) on the border of Nantou and Hualien counties at 4am to 5am, attracting crowds keen to enjoy the winter scenery, the bureau said.
According to the weather observatory station on the mountain’s peak, temperatures in the Hehuanshan area were minus-0.1°C to minus-1.2°C for the rest of the day, with 2cm of snow having fallen.
Snow also fell on Taipei’s 1,120m Yangmingshan (陽明山) after 6am, police said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, more than 3cm of snow fell on the 1,900m Taipingshan (太平山) in Yilan County on Thursday night and yesterday morning.
Vehicles started arriving outside the main gate to the Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area (太平山國家森林遊樂區) at 8pm the previous evening, in a bid to be the first to see the snow after the area opened at 6:40am.
As a result, there was a 6km traffic backup in the area at about 8am.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Tourists who entered the park early built snowmen and enjoyed the snow-covered landscape.
However, traffic controls were imposed at noon, forbidding visitors from going to higher peaks in the area, said the Luodong Forest District Office, which manages the area.
With the arrival of the cold front, temperatures below 10°C are possible across Taiwan until today, with cold advisories issued for cities and counties nationwide, the CWB said.
At least 19 people have died from cardiac arrest since Thursday night, possibly as a result of the cold wave, municipal fire department reports showed.
Taipei and Keelung fire departments said that five older residents died of heart attacks in the two jurisdictions as of 10am yesterday, but added that a correlation between the deaths and the drop in temperature had yet to be determined.
The New Taipei City Fire Department said that six people died of cardiovascular events, which were believed to be related to cold weather between midnight and noon yesterday, including two males in their 40s.
As cold weather is expected to persist into next week, people should be mindful of staying warm, especially those with seniors, children or people with chronic conditions in their homes, the department said.
As of press time, four nonviolent deaths had been recorded in Taipei, one in Keelung, six in New Taipei City, two in Taoyuan, one in Taichung, one in Yulin City and two in Nantou County.
Additional reporting by Chiu Chun-fu, Wu Jen-chieh, Lin Chia-tung and Chang Jui-chen
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
RSS