The first half of the plum rain season — a period of sustained rainfall from late spring to early summer — is likely to be drier than usual, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.
Despite precipitation expected to be lower than average next month, it would be close to normal in June, bureau Weather Forecast Center director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) told a news conference.
Although there have been fewer downpours during the season in recent years, their intensity has increased, Lu said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
In addition to watching water use, Lu said the public should beware of heavy downpours, as well as thunder, lightning and strong gusts that often come with frontal rainfall during the plum rain season.
The first downpour of the season is forecast for next weekend, he said.
However, people in central and southern Taiwan might have to wait until the end of next month to early June for water shortages to ease, he added.
The situation would depend largely on southwesterly winds and the rain front at that time, he said.
As the three-year La Nina cycle ended in the spring, it is likely that the phenomenon could develop in the autumn or winter this year, Lu said.
Based on previous years, it is predicted that the nation could see normal to warmer temperatures during the rainy season this year, he said.
Over the three-day Workers’ Day holiday, which begins today, the nation can expect stable weather during the day today, before a strengthening northeasterly wind system and an approaching weather front combine to bring rainfall to northern, central and eastern Taiwan from this evening until tomorrow, bureau weather forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said.
Cooler weather can be expected tomorrow, with lows forecast to drop to 20°C in the north, and 20°C to 24°C in the east, before the mercury starts to climb on Monday.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
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