The temperature in Hualien County’s Yuli Township (玉里) yesterday reached 40.7°C, the highest recorded since a weather station was moved to the site in the southern part of the township in 2008, the Hualien Weather Station said.
Station director Tan Lien (譚廉) said in an interview with the Central News Agency that yesterday’s temperature broke the record set in 2019 at 39.2°C, adding that the heat wave is forecast to last until Monday.
The Central Weather Bureau said that the county’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) also topped 40°C.
Photo: screen grab from WeatherRisk Explore’s Facebook
Mercury is soaring without a sea breeze to regulate temperatures in the East Rift Valley, which is flanked by the Central Mountain Range and the Coastal Mountain Range, Tan said.
Yuli and Jhuosi are major rice production areas, where demand for water is high as farmers transplant seedlings, Yuxi Farmers’ Association head Tsai Tsung-han (蔡宗翰) said.
Farmers have started to worry about the lack of rain in the area and asked the Hualien Management Office’s farmland and water resources department to monitor the situation and help ensure water supply.
Photo: CNA
Produce farmers in the county’s Jian Township (吉安) have complained to legislators that they have had losses as crops wither.
The county government, the Hualien Management Office, Taiwan Water Corp (台水), the Jian Township Office and the farmers’ association all sent representatives to inspect the site yesterday morning.
The agencies said that the Hualien Management Office should quickly clean silt out of drainage ditches, and start managing and distribute water resources efficiently.
The nation’s highest temperatures tend to be recorded in areas that lack wind and foliage, such as the Taipei Basin, where temperatures are forecast to reach 40°C on Sunday or Monday, meteorologist Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said, adding that the urban heat-island effect could make Taipei and New Taipei City even hotter.
In addition to a solid high-pressure system over Taiwan, dry and hot air from China’s Zhejiang and Fujian provinces also contribute to the heat, he said.
The high-pressure system is forecast to weaken on Tuesday or Wednesday, and the chances of afternoon thunderstorms would increase, he added.
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