Parts of northern Taiwan under heavy rain advisories: CWA

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) The Central Weather Administration (CWA) on Saturday issued heavy rain advisories for Taipei and New Taipei, and announced an extremely heavy rain advisory for Yilan County.

Under the yellow color-coded heavy rain advisory, the CWA warned Taipei and New Taipei of the possibility of more than 80 millimeters of rainfall within 24 hours, or more than 40 mm within one hour.

As for Yilan, the higher-tier orange warning indicated that the accumulated rainfall could exceed 200 millimeters within 24 hours or 100 mm within three hours.

The administration explained that the heavy rainfall forecasted for the northern Taiwan locations is due to the effects of a lingering northeasterly wind, which could bring short bursts of heavy precipitation.

Mountainous areas in Yilan should be aware of localized heavy rain and even extremely heavy rain, while New Taipei's coastal and mountainous areas, as well as Taipei, could also see localized heavy rain, the CWA added.

Independent weather expert Wu Der-rong (吳德榮) further added that with a tropical disturbance forming above the South China Sea between Saturday and Sunday, Taiwan could see its surrounding wind patterns turn east over the weekend, increasing the atmospheric moisture of eastern Taiwan.

While the tropical disturbance has been forecast with a southbound trajectory and is showing no signs of further development, Wu said, another tropical disturbance will develop east of Guam after Wednesday.

He stated that the phenomenon will most likely turn into a typhoon-level storm due to a very strong El Niño event, but whether or not it will threaten Taiwan is still too early to tell.

Wu also echoed the CWA's weather forecast for Saturday, saying that the Greater Taipei area could see short and localized heavy rain, adding that the eastern half of the island could see precipitation as well.

Wu said the western half of the island will experience cloudy weather, but mountainous locations could see localized rain on Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday, Wu said the areas east of greater Taipei and the eastern half of Taiwan could see short and localized showers, while western Taiwan will most likely see the same weather patterns forecasted for Saturday.

Wu said temperatures will gradually climb over the next few days, bringing hot weather in the morning in the west.

He forecasted that highs in northern Taiwan could reach as high as 33 degrees Celsius, while central and southern regions could see highs of 36 degrees.

Wu went on to add that northern Taiwan could see highs hit 35 degrees on Sunday.

Between Monday and Wednesday, Wu said a northeasterly wind will once again increase the atmospheric moisture above Taiwan, bringing localized sporadic showers in northern and northeastern regions during those days, and cloudy skies to central and southern parts.

The greater Taipei area will cool down on Tuesday and Wednesday after the weather slightly lowers the Mercury there, but central and southern Taiwan will continue to experience heat in the morning.

Wu further predicted the weather for next Thursday and Friday, stating that with the weakening of northeasterly winds, the western half of the nation will see cloudy skies while eastern Taiwan could experience sporadic and localized precipitation.