Hot weather persists; rare heat alert issued for 3 cities, counties

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) A heat alert has been issued warning of temperatures of 38 degrees Celsius in six cities and counties around Taiwan on Wednesday, including Taipei and New Taipei cities in the north.

The Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued a rare "red" heat alert for New Taipei and Pingtung and Taitung counties in the south, warning of at least three consecutive days of 38-degree temperatures in those areas.

Temperatures of 38 degrees were recorded in Sanxia in New Taipei the past two days and in Sandimen in Pingtung County on Tuesday, and could be seen for the first of at least three straight days in Changbin in Taitung County on Wednesday, the CWA said.

The agency issued an "orange" heat advisory for Chiayi County and Tainan City in the south along with Taipei, indicating daytime highs in those areas could reach 38 degrees on Wednesday.

A separate orange heat alert, indicating three straight days of 36-degree temperatures, was issued for Taoyuan City in the north, Taichung City and Changhua and Nantou counties in central Taiwan, Yunlin County and Chiayi and Kaohsiung cities in the south and Yilan in the east, according to the weather agency.

The CWA said a "yellow' heat warning has been issued for Hualien County in the east and the outlying Penghu and Kinmen counties, warning of a single daytime high of 36 degrees.

Elsewhere, temperature highs are forecast to hit 33-36 degrees Wednesday, the CWA said.

Update: As of 2:40 p.m., the day's highest temperature -- 38.2 degrees -- was recorded in Sandimen Township, Pingtung County.

While sunny skies are expected to prevail Wednesday, the CWA said brief thundershowers are possible along with lightning and strong winds in mountainous areas, in particular in the afternoon.

The CWA expected the sweltering heat to continue into the weekend until a southern cloud system moves in starting Sunday.

It forecast that the thicker cloud cover could take the edge off the high temperatures around Taiwan on Sunday, with daytime highs ranging between 32 and 35 degrees.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment rated the air quality across Taiwan as "fair" to "good" on Wednesday.