Soft hail falls on Hehuan Mountain

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) Soft hail fell on Hehuan Mountain in Nantou County early Friday, prompting the Highway Bureau to close a section of Provincial Highway 14 leading to Dayuling from 5 p.m.

The soft hail blanketed Songxue Lodge on the mountain twice early Friday, at 5 a.m. and 7 a.m., according to staff at the Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area.

Soft hail, also called snow pellets, is a type of solid precipitation that forms when subfreezing water droplets adhere to falling snowflakes and freeze, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).

They are typically ball or cone-shaped and have a looser texture than snow, the CWA said.

A section of Provincial Highway 14A between Cuifeng (18-kilometer mark) and Dayuling (41.5km mark) will be closed preemptively starting 5 p.m. Friday, allowing vehicles to exit but not enter, according to the Highway Bureau in a press release Friday.

The stretch between Wuling (31.7km mark) and Songxue Lodge (32.7km mark), which is steep, winding and slippery, will be fully closed in both directions, the bureau added.

Officials will announce at 8 a.m. Saturday whether the road will reopen fully or remain open only to vehicles equipped with snow chains, the statement said.