Stable weather forecast for Thursday but wide temperature gap warned

Taipei, Jan. 14 (CNA) Stable weather conditions are forecast for Thursday but there could be a wide daytime-nighttime temperature gap due to radiative cooling effects, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁), a CWA forecaster, told CNA that a relatively warm easterly wind system is expected to continue, bringing sunny to cloudy skies around Taiwan and boosting temperature highs to 23-25 degrees Celsius in the north and east and 27-28 degrees in central and southern Taiwan.

With radiative cooling, referring to the cooling of the ground under clear skies, light winds and dry conditions, the mercury on Thursday night is forecast to fall to 12-15 degrees in western Taiwan and 16-17 degrees in the east, Cheng said.

Some areas in Taoyuan City and Hsinchu and Miaoli counties in the north could see temperatures at night dip to below 10 degrees, he added.

The CWA has issued a "yellow" cold surge advisory for Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli which is expected to stay in effect until Thursday morning.

A similar weather pattern is likely to continue into the weekend but sporadic showers are possible in the east, Cheng said.

A northeasterly seasonal wind system is forecast to set in on Monday and destabilize the weather, with a continental cold air mass or a strong continental cold air mass expected to follow Tuesday, dragging down temperatures.

The first tropical depression of the year formed southeast of the Philippines Wednesday morning and is likely to develop into a tropical storm, but the weather system could dissipate when it moves north and so it is not expected to affect Taiwan, Cheng said.