Long weekend to start with rain, but balmy weather on the way

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Northern and eastern Taiwan can expect sporadic rainfall at the beginning of the three-day 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday Saturday before the weather turns dry the next day, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) forecast Monday.

The rain will be brought by seasonal northeasterly winds, which will keep temperatures during the daytime in the north on Saturday to a high of around 22 degrees Celsius, said CWB forecaster Zhao Hung (趙竑).

As the weather improves Sunday and Monday, only eastern Taiwan should expect occasional rainfall, and daytime highs in the north should rise to about 24 degrees, according to Zhao.

In the coming week, Taiwan is expected to see two rounds of northeasterly winds. The first will gain momentum Tuesday when the Greater Taipei area, eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula in southern Taiwan will see occasional rainfall.

The system will weaken on Wednesday and Thursday, when rain is only expected in eastern parts of Taiwan.

Daytime highs in the Greater Taipei area will dip slightly to 25 degrees Tuesday and to 22 degrees in northern Taiwan on Wednesday.

The next weather system will arrive on Friday and Saturday as the long weekend begins, Zhao said.

The CWB said, meanwhile, that Tropical Storm Dujuan has been downgraded to a tropical depression but could bring more cloudy weather to parts of Taiwan.

From late Monday night to early Tuesday morning, Taiwan's outlying Kinmen and Matsu islands, which are not far from China's coast, could be shrouded in fog, and visibility could be reduced to around 200 meters, Zhao said.