Waves of seasonal winds to bring rain, cold nights

Warm and dry weather is expected today before two more waves of seasonal winds bring rain to windward areas and overnight lows in northern Taiwan to about 20°C this week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.

Seasonal winds were expected to weaken last night, bringing drier conditions and isolated showers to eastern Taiwan, CWA forecaster Wang Pin-hsiang (王品翔) said.

Wang said that seasonal winds are expected to strengthen again tomorrow and on Tuesday, then weaken on Wednesday and Thursday before another wave arrives on Friday or Saturday. Rain is likely along the northern coast and in eastern Taiwan during this time.

A Central Weather Administration chart shows the weather forecast for this week. The pink line represents northern Taiwan and Yilan County, the green line represents central Taiwan, the blue line represents southern Taiwan and the yellow line represents Hualien and Taitung.

Photo provided by the Central Weather Administration

Although Typhoon In-fa is not forecast to directly affect Taiwan, it could create significant swells along the northern coast, eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) from today into next week, Wang added.

Meanwhile, Wang said that Typhoon In-fa was moving slowly yesterday afternoon, traveling west-southwest at 5kph after turning from the northeast, about 2,200km east of Taipei

The typhoon is expected to turn north and head toward waters south of Japan, posing no direct threat to Taiwan, he said.

However, its effects are expected to bring long waves to the northern coast of Keelung, coastal areas in eastern Taiwan, including Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島), and the Hengchun Peninsula starting tomorrow, he said.

Additional reporting by Wu Liang-yi