Snow early yesterday morning fell on the nation’s tallest mountain, Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山), and other mountainous areas to its north due to the influence of a strong cold air mass over Taiwan.
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Nantou County branch reported that one of the county’s highest mountains, Hehuanshan (合歡山), received about 6cm of snow in the morning.
Snow also fell on other nearby areas, including Wuling (武陵), which is 3,275m above sea level.
Photo courtesy of the Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area
Based on information provided by the Yushan Weather Station as of 8am, 1cm of snow had been recorded on the 3,952m Yushan, located on the border of Nantou and Chiayi counties, and Kaohsiung, while a low of minus-2.6°C was reported at 5:29am.
Paiyun Lodge (排雲山莊) in Yushan National Park and Huagang (華光) in Nantou County’s Renai Township (仁愛), at 2,400m, also saw snow.
Soft hail began falling on Paiyun Lodge on Monday night before turning into snow early yesterday, the Yushan National Park Headquarters said.
Snow was also observed on Lalashan (拉拉山) in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興), the Lake Jiaming (嘉明湖) National Trail in Taitung County and in Hsinchu County’s Jianshih Township (尖石).
The Hsinchu County Department of Personnel yesterday announced school closures for Hsin Kwang Elementary School in Jianshih due to the snowfall.
The cold air mass has also brought chilly weather, with the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issuing low-temperature alerts for several areas in northern and central Taiwan.
The affected regions include New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties, where minimum ground-level temperatures could fall to below 10°C, or even below 6°C in some areas, forecasters said.
Miaoli County’s Sanwan Township (三灣) recorded the nation’s lowest temperature in a low-lying area yesterday morning at 8.9°C, followed by 9°C in New Taipei City’s Shihding District (石碇) and 9.4°C in Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西).
Daytime highs yesterday remained at about 16°C to 17°C in the north and 18°C to 21°C degrees in central Taiwan and Taitung County in the east, the CWA said.
Another cold air system was expected to move into Taiwan and gradually send temperatures further down last night, it said.
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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