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3 reasons why Taiwan has not been hit by typhoons in 3 years

La Nina and Western Pacific Subtropical High acting as a 'shield' among reasons for lack of typhoons

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ECMWF probability chart for tropical depression by Aug. 23. (ECMWF image)

ECMWF probability chart for tropical depression by Aug. 23. (ECMWF image)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A meteorologist on Wednesday (Aug. 17) provided three reasons why Taiwan is nearing three consecutive years without a typhoon striking Taiwan directly.

As of Wednesday, only eight tropical storms have formed in the Western Pacific and most of them are not strong and have not affected Taiwan. On his Facebook page, WeatherRisk Director Chia Hsin-hsing (賈新興) uploaded a post explaining that if no typhoon makes landfall in Taiwan in August, it will be three straight years the country has not been directly impacted by a typhoon.

Chia explained that since 2020, Taiwan has not taken a direct hit from a typhoon from the months of January through August for nearly three years now. However, he pointed out that there have been sea alerts issued for Taiwan in the month of August.

Currently, there are no tropical depressions forming in the Western Pacific. Chia said that based on conditions seen this year, a tropical depression may not develop until next week, on Aug. 22 or 23, at the earliest.

"Therefore, this year's typhoon alert could be the latest to hit Taiwan. Right now it looks like it could be the second latest in history, but it could break the record." The record for the latest typhoon date for the first typhoon warning to be issued in a year is Aug. 30, set in 2010.

He explained there are three reasons why a typhoon warning has not been issued so far and no typhoon has impacted Taiwan directly from January to August for three consecutive years:

  1. The La Nina phenomenon in the central Pacific Ocean
  2. Abnormally strong easterly anomaly from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea
  3. Because of the obvious high-pressure anomaly over Taiwan, meaning even if a typhoon forms, it is difficult for typhoons to pass over Taiwan

In much of 2018 and 2019, the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH), a subtropical belt of atmospheric pressure over the Northern Pacific Ocean also kept typhoons at bay. The WPSH has been dubbed "Taiwan's shield" because it steered typhoons either north or south of Taiwan during much of 2018 and 2019.