Snow falls on Alishan for first time since 2018

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) Snow fell on Alishan on Thursday morning for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of around 2,200 meters in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., when the temperature dropped to around 1 degree Celsius, the CWA said.

With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snowfall, according to CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其).

The last time snowfall was recorded at the Alishan weather station was Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there on Jan. 27, 2020, Tsai said, noting that Thursday's snowfall was the first in the area in seven years.

Snow also fell Thursday in other high-altitude areas, including Jiaming Lake and the nearby Xiangyang Mountain Hut in eastern Taiwan, which recorded their first snowfall of the year, from early morning until around 10 a.m., Tsai said.

At around 4 a.m. Thursday, snow and ice pellets began falling at Jiaming Lake Mountain Hut, a resting point on the famous Jiaming Lake trail, according to local mountain guides.

Snowfall and graupel were also reported at Xiangyang Mountain Hut, another resting point on the trail, at around 10 a.m., the guides said.

On Yushan, the country's highest peak, sleet fell late Wednesday night, and the mercury plunged to around minus 5 degrees early Thursday, with rime ice coating the vegetation on the 3,952-meter-tall mountain, Tsai said, warning of icy mountain roads.

In other parts of Taiwan, temperatures early Thursday morning ranged generally from 11 to 13 degrees in central and northern areas and in Yilan County, 13 to 15 degrees in other eastern areas and southern Taiwan, and below 10 degrees in some low-lying areas, according to CWA data.

Daytime highs were forecast at 14 to 15 degrees in the north, 18 to 21 degrees in central and eastern regions, and 20 to 22 degrees in the south, the CWA said.