Cold surge warning issued for most of Taiwan through Wednesday night

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Tuesday issued cold surge advisories for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, warning of lows below 10 degrees Celsius through Wednesday night.

An "orange" alarm was issued for Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Taoyuan, signaling sustained temperatures around or below 10 degrees Celsius and possibly dropping below 6 degrees in parts of those cities.

A "yellow" alarm warning of minimum temperatures below 10 degrees was issued for the rest of the country except for Hualien and Taitung counties in eastern Taiwan and the outlying counties of Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu).

The CWA said the cold weather is due to the arrival of a strong continental cold air mass combined with radiative cooling, which describes the release of heat from the ground into the atmosphere.

Taiwan will remain under the combined influence of the cold air mass and radiative cooling through Thursday, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) told CNA Monday.

He said that while the cold air is expected to weaken slightly on Friday and Saturday, radiative cooling will continue to keep temperatures low.