Wet weather to prevail in central, southern Taiwan through Friday

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Central and southern Taiwan will see increasingly heavy rainfall from Sunday night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) told CNA that Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around the Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions.

The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by Monday afternoon and reaching Zhejiang through the East China Sea on Tuesday, Liu said.

There is a small chance it could strengthen into a typhoon, but it will not directly impact Taiwan, Liu said.

Under the indirect influence of the system, however, unstable weather can be expected around Taiwan, particularly in the south, where southwesterly winds are funneling moisture into the region that will lead to significant rainfall throughout the week, Liu said.

Given those circumstances, the rainfall in central and southern Taiwan is expected to intensify beginning Sunday night, with a risk of brief heavy downpours and localized heavy rain.

From Tuesday to Friday, mountainous areas from Nantou to south of Chiayi may experience extremely heavy rain or more severe rainfall.

The rain is then expected to ease over the weekend as the low-pressure system shifts slightly northward, according to Liu.

If weather conditions develop as forecast, the CWA may issue large-scale or extremely heavy rain alerts as early as Monday, Liu said, adding that accumulated rainfall in central and southern Taiwan could exceed 350 millimeters per day starting Tuesday.

The CWA defines extremely heavy rain as accumulated rainfall of 200 millimeters or more within 24 hours or 100 mm or more in an hour, and torrential rain as accumulated rainfall of 350 millimeters or more within 24 hours or 200 mm or more in an hour.

Temperature-wise, Liu noted that due to the persistent rain in central and southern Taiwan, highs will be around 29 to 31 degrees Celsius.

In the north and east, temperatures will range between 31 to 34 degrees, but in areas with less cloud cover, such as greater Taipei and the eastern coast, temperatures above 36 degrees are still possible.