Weather front to bring rain across Taiwan

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) All parts of Taiwan will see intermittent showers or thunderstorms on Wednesday, while heavy rain is likely in the western half of the island as well as Yilan and Hualien counties in the east, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) has forecast.

The CWA issued a heavy rain alert at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday for multiple cities and counties north of Changhua County and Nantou County, warning people of lightning and strong winds, as a weather front enveloped the island.

A heavy rain advisory means accumulated rainfall of more than 80 millimeters within 24 hours, or more than 40 mm in one hour, according to the CWA.

As of 11:15 a.m., several locations in Miaoli County and Taichung and Hsinchu cities had already seen more than 80 millimeters of rain since midnight Tuesday, with much of that coming after 7:30 a.m.

A weather station in Houlong in Miaoli County had recorded 104.5 mm of precipitation falling Tuesday, the most of any location in Taiwan.

As for temperatures Wednesday, daytime highs will hit 23-25 degrees Celsius in northern Taiwan and 27-30 degrees in other areas on Wednesday, with lows of 22-25 degrees around the island, the CWA forecast.

Wu Der-rong (吳德榮), an adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, said Wednesday that localized showers or thunderstorms will be seen in western and northeastern Taiwan due to the lingering weather front.

He also warned of potential severe weather events, such as lightning, strong winds, downpours, and hail.

Wu forecast that the stationary front will continue to hover around Taiwan from Thursday to Sunday, and that strong southwesterly winds would add warm and humid air to the atmosphere, leading to an unstable atmosphere and more severe weather events.

Another weather front is forecast to hover near Taiwan from April 30 to May 2, which will continue the rainy pattern, Wu said.