Typhoon Mekkhala outer bands to bring rain to Taiwan from Thursday

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) Taiwan will see cloudy to sunny skies Wednesday, with highs of up to 37 degrees Celsius, before the outer bands of Typhoon Mekkhala bring rain to northeastern, western, and southern areas from Thursday to Saturday.

Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said Tuesday that most areas around Taiwan will be hot Wednesday, with temperatures ranging from 31 to 36 degrees.

Highs could exceed 37 degrees in areas north of Taoyuan, inland parts of central and southern Taiwan, and the Hualien-Taitung Rift Valley, Lin said.

Typhoon Mekkhala is forecast to pass closest to Taiwan on Thursday, when its outer circulation is expected to bring occasional showers or thunderstorms to northeastern and western Taiwan, as well as localized heavy rain in mountainous areas of the south, Lin said.

As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the typhoon was located 500 kilometers southeast of Eluanbi and moving toward the Ryukyu Islands and southern Japan, according to the CWA.

The CWA said Mekkhala is expected to gradually weaken from Tuesday evening due to lower ocean heat content and stronger upper-level winds.

As the typhoon moves away Friday and Saturday, a weather front to the north will keep conditions unstable across Taiwan, bringing occasional showers or thunderstorms to central and northern areas and scattered rain elsewhere, the CWA said.

Temperatures around Taiwan are forecast to fall to around 30 degrees from Thursday to Saturday because of increased cloud cover and rain, according to the CWA.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Higos was located 2,630 km east-southeast of Eluanbi at 2 p.m. Tuesday. It is forecast to move northwest toward Japan and will not affect Taiwan, the CWA said.