Taiwan records historically hot, dry weather in July

Taipei, Aug. 4 (CNA) Taiwan recorded its seventh-hottest and fifth-driest July on record this year, with an average temperature of 29.5 degrees Celsius and 78.6 millimeters of rainfall, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Thursday.

In a Facebook post, the CWB said the 29.5-degree average temperature last month was 0.5 degrees warmer than usual, while the average daily high temperature, 33.3 degrees, was 0.3 degrees above normal.

In terms of individual locations, Yushan weather station set records with an average July temperature of 10.1 degrees and an average daily high temperature of 19.2 degrees, the weather bureau said.

Meanwhile, New Taipei's Banqiao District tallied 26 days in July in which the temperature rose above 35 degrees, while also reporting a record high July temperature of 39.4 degrees, according to the CWB.

According to the bureau, the 78.6 mm of total rainfall last month was far below the average of 250.3 mm, making it the fifth-driest July on record, while the 7.2 days on which it rained were also less than the average of 10.9.

Especially dry locations included Taichung's Wuqi District, which recorded only 0.5 mm of rainfall during July, and Chiayi weather station, which reported 58 mm, the bureau said.

Taiwan's national weather statistics are calculated by averaging the measurements from the CWB's 13 low-elevation weather stations in Keelung, Yilan, Tamsui, Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Chenggong, Taitung, Dawu and Hengchun.