CWA forecasts cloudy skies across Taiwan over Mid-Autumn long weekend

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Most of Taiwan will see cloudy to sunny skies over the Mid-Autumn Festival long weekend, with consistently hot temperatures expected to last well into next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast Friday.

CWA forecaster Lai Hsin-kuo (賴欣國) told CNA that Taiwan will see cloudy to sunny skies Friday, with only the Greater Taipei area, the Keelung City coast, and the eastern half of Taiwan seeing chances of sporadic rain in the morning.

Mountainous areas in the western half of Taiwan and locations south of Chiayi County could also see chances of brief, localized showers on Friday afternoon, Lai said.

The CWA forecaster said Taiwan will continue to experience cloudy to sunny skies until next Wednesday, with mountainous regions seeing chances of short and sporadic precipitation.

Lai said the weather pattern will start to change beginning Oct. 1 with the arrival of northeasterly winds, which will bring sporadic rain in the afternoon to areas north of Taoyuan and the eastern half of the island.

In terms of temperatures Friday, the CWA issued a yellow heat alert for parts of Tainan and Pingtung County, indicating that temperatures could reach 36 degrees Celsius around noon in those areas.

Lai said temperatures across Taiwan will remain stable over the next week, with highs in Keelung, Yilan and Hualien ranging between 29 and 31 degrees, and the western half of Taiwan experiencing highs of 32 to 34 degrees.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Surigae, located about 650 kilometers east-southeast of Cape Eluanbi, Taiwan's southernmost tip, as of 8 a.m. Friday, has the potential to develop into a typhoon but is not expected to have a major impact on Taiwan, the CWA said.

The storm, which had maximum sustained winds of 90 kilometers per hour near its center and a storm radius of 120 kilometers, is expected to move in Taiwan's direction over the next 24 hours before veering north and then northeast, Lai said.

Based on that projected course, the storm should not affect Taiwan much, other than to bring swells in waters along eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula over the weekend, the CWA said.

With the lunar Mid-Autumn Festival taking place on Friday and Teacher's Day being celebrated on Monday, Taiwan is currently enjoying a four-day extended weekend.