New Taipei's Shiding sees low of 9.6°C; cold advisories issued for parts of northern Taiwan

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The lowest temperature recorded in a low-lying area around Taiwan early Saturday morning was in New Taipei's Shiding District, at 9.6 degrees Celsius, said the Central Weather Administration (CWA), which issued cold surge advisories for parts of northern Taiwan.

The lowest temperature was logged at 6:43 a.m. by a monitoring station in Shiding, while Nangan on Taiwan's outlying Matsu Islands recorded the second-lowest temperature at 9.7 degrees, CWA data showed.

Other places around the country also observed lows of below 11 degrees, including Matsu's Dongyin Island and Hukou Township in Hsinchu County.

Advisories have been issued in New Taipei and the counties of Hsinchu and Miaoli, all of which are forecast to see lows of around 10 degrees or below from Saturday to Sunday.

Due to the effect of a cold air mass moving southward, Taiwan will get colder as the day progresses, particularly at night, according to the CWA's forecast.

Lows of 12 degrees can be expected in the north on Saturday, 13-15 degrees in the central and southern parts of Taiwan, and 14-16 degrees in the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung, it said.

Meanwhile, brief showers are likely to occur in parts of Greater Taipei, the coastal areas of Keelung, and mountainous areas in the north, the CWA added.

The CWA warned that roads at high elevations -- above 3,000 meters -- could be icy at nighttime and early Sunday morning, while there is also a chance of snow during this period.

The CWA's weather monitoring station on Yushan (Jade Mountain) also observed frost and rime on Saturday morning, with a low 1.6 degrees logged at 8 a.m.

Based on the administration's website information, frost and rime are ice crystals that look similar but their formation process is different. Frost is formed by condensation of water vapor while rime is formed from small supercooled water droplets that freeze on contact with a cold surface.