Weather

Weather events that affect the normal flow of life in Taiwan

Dashcam captures driver fleeing seconds before landslide would have buried him alive

composite image showing man fleeing seconds before being buried alive
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A dashcam video circulating on social media sites shows the moment a driver running back to his car and reversing to safety just seconds before the hillside collapses onto the spot where he had parked his car, today, May 16. Taiwan has seen many rockfalls and landslides after several days of heavy rain under the influence of a rainy season stationary front. At around 1:30 pm this afternoon, Monday, a man named Lin was driving on a backroad used by

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Rainy season front expected to bring heavy rain this weekend

purple rain band
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Weather forecasters are predicting a rainy weekend with a typical rainy season front expected to approach northern Taiwan, Thursday, and slowly move southward until it reaches the South China Sea, Tuesday. According to the Central Weather Bureau, as the weak front currently bringing cloudy weather today moves away, Tuesday and Wednesday will see temperatures rise to maximums of 31°C in northern and central parts of Taiwan, and 31°C to 33°C in the south with brief isolated showers and afternoon thunderstorms

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Taiwan’s rainy season expected to start Sunday with stationary front, tropical disturbance

weather map Taiwan with stationary front
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Meteorologists say that Taiwan is about to enter the summer rainy season with the first stationary (plum rain) front forecast to descend on northern Taiwan Sunday, May 1, combined with a tropical disturbance approaching from the south. Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明), General-Manager of WeatherRisk said that northern Taiwan will come under the influence of a stationary front Sunday, along with a northeast wind turning the weather rainy and cool, with the temperature dropping to 17°C to 20°C. Furthermore, a low pressure

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Snow falls in high altitude areas of Central Mountain Range

snowman at Songsyue Lodge
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Pictures courtesy of Songsyue Lodge. Affected by a continental cold air mass, snow fell in high mountain areas of northern, central, and southern Taiwan this morning, including Mount Hehuan, Wuling Farm and Jiaming Lake. At Songsyue Lodge in Taroko National Park, more than five centimeters of snow was recorded. The first snow this winter was recorded at Mount Hehuan at around 8:00 am yesterday when it snowed for just two minutes. As the temperature dropped during the night, snow began

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Taiwan sends 2 air force transport planes of material relief to Philippines typhoon disaster zone

composite image of air force c-130 and typhoon damage
Regional Typhoon 
Phillip Charlier 1 Comment ,

Taiwan’s air force dispatched two C-130 flights carrying emergency supplies to the southern Philippines after a destructive category 5 typhoon left 378 dead, and an estimated 2.4 million people in need of emergency assistance. The first flight arrived in Cebu yesterday evening, December 25, and a second flight arrived this morning. Typhoon Rai, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Odette, made landfall on December 16. According to the latest statistics from the Philippine government, the typhoon left 378 dead, 742

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Taiwan donates US$500,000 to Philippines for disaster relief in the wake of Typhoon Rai

Typhoon Rai Philippines composite image showing path and destruction
Typhoon 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Taiwan donated US$500,000 to the Philippines to assist with disaster relief after a category 5 typhoon swept through the country, leaving at least 375 dead, and 400,000 displaced or homeless. Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said that Taiwan and the Philippines were neighbors who “shared weal and woe” and that Taiwan will stand with the Philippines. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release this evening, December 22, that Typhoon Rai had hit the Philippines with a devastating force,

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Perfect weekend weather turns to “dirty rain” in northern Taiwan

weather map showing airstreams
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

A clear, warm, sunny Saturday saw the weekend in northern Taiwan start with perfect weather, but Sunday turned to rain that meteorologists warned could be contaminated with pollutants. Taiwan’s private weather company WeatherRisk said that a strengthening of northeastern monsoonal winds caused an obvious drop in temperature and increase in moisture in northern and northeastern areas this morning. The rain will increase in the afternoon, and in addition, airstreams will bring pollution from northern areas of China. The northeastern monsoon

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Cold weather comes early to East Asia as energy crisis looms in China

snow in Hokkaido Japan
Regional Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

In Taiwan, October 17, northeasterly monsoonal winds brought an early cooling respite from the hellish heat of a long, hot summer, but parts of China saw sub-zero temperatures arrive the earliest in more than half a century, and snow fell in Japan a half-month earlier than last year. In Hokkaido, Japan, the cities of Wakkanai and Asahikawa saw the first snow, Sunday, 17 days earlier than last year, the Sapporo District Meteorological Observatory announced. All-Nippon News Network reported that under

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Disaster-level wind and rain takes Taiwan by surprise as tropical storm passes by without making landfall

flooded road in Hualien County
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Taiwan appears to have underestimated the influence of Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu as it passed by around 400 kilometers south-southeast of the island October 11, 2021. The outer bands of the storm combined with a monsoonal low pressure system created a “non-traditional tropical storm” according to Central Weather Bureau meteorologists. Combined with Taiwan’s mountainous topography, winds stronger than those near the center of the storm were generated, while heavy to extremely heavy torrential rain fell in the north, eastern, and

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Rockfall crushes parked cars in Taipei City

cars damaged by rockfall in Neihu District, Taipei City, October 11, 2021
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Three cars parked beneath a steep slope in Neihu District, Taipei City, were badly damaged by fallen boulders after a rockfall caused by heavy rain generated by Severe Tropical Storm Kompasu this morning, October 11. The Taipei City Government was notified of the rockfall at at Lane 456 Chenggong Road, at around 7:30 am . A total of four cars were damaged, but fortunately there were no injuries reported. Police blocked the road section while engineers examined the slope and

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