TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Weather Administration said Friday that Taiwan recorded its warmest autumn since 1951, CNA reported.
The administration’s Weather Forecast Center Deputy Director Lo Ya-yin (羅雅尹) said average temperatures in Taiwan from September to November were much warmer than usual. Lo explained that the three-month average hit 26.5 C., marking the warmest autumn since full records began in 1951.
The deputy director also noted that most of the autumn rainfall fell in north and east Taiwan. She said precipitation reached 644.2 millimeters, close to normal, but the country saw only 26.5 rainy days, the fifth lowest since 1951.
Looking ahead, Lo said the tropical Pacific now shows a “cold east, warm west” temperature pattern. She said the latest data points to more than a 50% chance that the La Nina phase will continue through autumn and winter, with a higher chance of returning to normal by spring.
La Nina is a weather pattern that happens when the Pacific Ocean becomes cooler than normal near South America. This cooling changes wind and storm patterns around the world, often bringing wetter weather to some places and drier or warmer weather to others.
Lo said winter, from December to February, is likely to bring average to warmer-than-average temperatures. She added that rainfall is expected to stay near average or come in slightly below average.
