Taiwan records 3rd coldest spring since 2011: CWA

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) Taiwan saw the third coldest spring this year since 2011, largely because of the continental cold air masses that moved in from the north, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said Tuesday.

CWA Weather Forecast Center Director Chen Yi-liang (陳怡良) said at a press briefing Tuesday that Taiwan was hit by two rounds of cold spells from the February to April period, contributing to an average temperature of 20.4 degrees Celsius during that time.

In the 14-year period, the coldest and second coldest springs were recorded in 2011 and 2014, when the average temperatures were 19.46 degrees and 20.3 degrees, respectively, CWA data showed.

The average temperature in the spring of 2025 was lower, however, than the average of 20.8 degrees recorded in the springs from 1991 to 2020, Chen said.

Average temperature readings are based on 11 CWA low-lying monitoring stations around Taiwan, and in the CWA's Taipei monitoring station, temperatures dropped to 14 degrees or below on 30 days, the most in almost 20 years.

The coldest spring in Taiwan occurred in 1968, with temperatures about 2.4 degrees below the 1991-2020 average of 20.8 degrees, while the warmest spring took place in 2019, about 1.5 degrees above the 1991-2020 average, Chen said.

During the May-July period, temperatures are expected to be higher than average, in particular in May and June, Chen said.

In terms of rainfall, Chen said rainfall was in the normal to slightly above normal range during this spring but was distributed unevenly, with higher precipitation seen during February to March but less rain falling in April.

Nationally, the average 321.3 millimeters of rainfall in the 11 monitoring stations over the spring was higher than the historical average of 282.8 mm, Chen said.

According to the CWA, the spring of 1983 saw the highest average rainfall at 726 mm, while the spring in 2022 recorded the lowest average of 136.8 mm.

Chen said the plum rain season -- the annual period of sustained rainfall from late spring to early summer -- is expected to set in sometime in mid to late May this year and rainfall could be largely distributed in the second half of May to the first half of June.

The volume of rain during the upcoming plum rain season, however, could be less than normal compared with the average of 440.7 mm during the May-June period since plum rain tallies started in 1951.