38.4 C in Dawu today! The record for Taiwan is 40.2 in Taidong (May 9, 2004) - some place might give that a shake this summer.
So, it’s not just Taidong that is suffering from dry, baking conditions. This map shows the extent of world-wide drought. I had assumed that rising sea levels would be the biggest adverse effect from climate change but widespread drought is potentially much more disastrous.
If significant sections of the world start to run out of water then that’s gonna create some serious conflict. We can get by without most things, but not water.
Another scorcher today - fei hwa - but new record extremes are being set almost daily now.
There is a chance of a typhoon in about a week’s time - but just a rough chance at this stage.
No no no noooooo no typhoon, please! I am flying!
If it forms, and then comes in our direction - both big ‘ifs’ - it will impact Taiwan around next Tuesday. When are you flying? I will keep you posted.
At least it won’t be that hot…
It is hot, hot, hot but it’s not that bad when you can go back inside after a few hours (8+ today).
In my 15 years here I don’t remember ever having such a hot June or July and August with so many consecutive sizzling days. CWB has the average high for June in Taichung as 31.9 and 24.4 as the average low. It’s been a steady 3 degrees over the average all month and it never went near the average low of 24.4. Huge climate changes seem to be happening in very rapid fashion and it doesn’t seem like the trend will change any time soon. I wonder if we’ll have another odd typhoon season this year.
See the link I posted a page or two back - as of around a week ago, Taipei had tied the previous record (from 2011) for the most days in June over 35C. That record is presumably shattered by now. And yup, this is a little scary - a few weeks of this has always been normal in Taipei, but now it seems like this kind of thing may last for several months.
Mind you, in Taipei at least, the strong winds have taken the edge off the heat over the past few days.
Absolutely. And thank the lord for that. Will happily trade some howling winds and driving rain for a few days off the heat sentence. It’s a case of ‘beggars can’t be choosers’. There is no other rain here during summer except for passing typhoons. Mentally, i am trying to reel them in. I know that’s probably wrong, but my brain is fried and i think i can justifiably plead ‘insanity’.
That ‘rapid fashion’ is a key point. Evolution seems like a nice orderly series of gradual events, but it isn’t actually. It usually unfolds in relatively sudden upheavels.
More from the China Post on records set in June this year:
[quote]June temperatures surpass 118-year record: CWB
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday announced new national temperature highs for June that smashed previous records.
The CWB’s archives show temperature records up to June 28. Taipei’s average temperature of 29.8 degrees Celsius surpassed a 118-year record from 1897, while 13 low-elevation stations across Taiwan reported an average temperature of 29.4 degrees Celsius, smashing the 1980 record of 28.8 degrees for June.
For the number of days of temperatures hitting the 35-degree mark and over, Taipei City saw 17 days, there were 14 days in Chiayi and 10 days in Keelung, all making new records.
According to CWB forecaster Lin Chih-hui (林智暉), the high temperatures in June were mainly the result of a strong Pacific high, and a low convection that brought a shortage of rain, but abundant heat and stable weather.[/quote]
[quote=“lostinasia”]More from the China Post on records set in June this year:
[quote]June temperatures surpass 118-year record: CWB
Taipei’s average temperature of 29.8 degrees Celsius surpassed a 118-year record from 1897, smashing the 1980 record of 28.8 degrees for June.[/quote][/quote]
Thanks for those stats LIA. To break a record average temperature by a full degree is quite startling.
Although we often get a typhoon as early as Mother’s Day, it then seems to shut down for 6 weeks. Looks to be just firing up again now, which is on the blessedly early side, actually. Even though neither the coldfront or either storm system is forecast to come to Taiwan, we’d seem to be a reasoanble chance to get some rain out of the quadrangulation below. Even the weeds are dying now. I’ve never seen that before in Taiwan.
It’s an interesting and very busy chart. I’ll be pissed if we don’t score something.
[quote=“dulan drift”]Although we often get a typhoon as early as Mother’s Day, it then seems to shut down for 6 weeks. Looks to be just firing up again now, which is on the blessedly early side, actually. Even though neither the coldfront or either storm system is forecast to come to Taiwan, we’d seem to be a reasoanble chance to get some rain out of the quadrangulation below. Even the weeds are dying now. I’ve never seen that before in Taiwan.
It’s an interesting and very busy chart. I’ll be pissed if we don’t score something.
[/quote]
I hope we’ll not score the big one though, Chan Hom has been upgraded to Typhoon and will pass on Guam during the weekend. Still a bit early for accurate landfall predictions though, at the moment the best candidates are the southern Japanese islands.
My greatest fear was that the big typhoon that’s predicted to recurve to the east will suck every bit of weather into it. CWB is now predicting that it’s going to swallow up the smaller one.
This chart is the forecast for the same day as the last one i posted (next wed) - quite a big difference. That merging thing in particular is not an exact science and pretty much anything could happen, but the smaller typhoon at least is looking more like it’s being pulled up towards Taiwan.
“Chan-hom could be a threat to the Japanese islands (including Okinawa and Iwo Jima), Taiwan, eastern China, or the Korean peninsula late next week. However, details at this time are highly uncertain.”
There’s still a lot of uncertainty because there’s a lot going on around the path of the typhoon/storm. It’s slowing down but should pick up speed later on after it passes Guam.
So far most predictions see it passing on Okinawa and then hitting China, but some models expect it to head in direction of Korea. Other predictions are that it could collapse and be absorbed by a system to it’s “right” (north-east).
Will have to wait a until Sunday to have a better idea of the whole thing.
Nice weather models Ibis - haven’t seen those ones before. And yeah, there are an unusual number of factors in play so it’s gonna be tricky predicting how it will pan out. I’m still pinning my hopes on the small one to the south - a nice thunderous, tank-filling downpour - nothing too dramatic - that would do nicely.
Checked out your photos - to my untrained eye they look great. There’s a lot to capture in Taiwan - keep probing.
[quote=“dulan drift”]Nice weather models Ibis - haven’t seen those ones before. And yeah, there are an unusual number of factors in play so it’s gonna be tricky predicting how it will pan out. I’m still pinning my hopes on the small one to the south - a nice thunderous, tank-filling downpour - nothing too dramatic - that would do nicely.
Checked out your photos - to my untrained eye they look great. There’s a lot to capture in Taiwan - keep probing.[/quote]
A massive rainfall with a reasonable amount of wind and a day off from work would be fine for me xD
Living in Yilan, if the Typhoon passes between Japan and Taiwan we should get quite a bit of rain here, just hoping there will not be anything major.
Now it looks like it will influence the tropical storm from the Philippines (Linfa), sucking it in and forcing it to pass on Taiwan…what a mess o.O
Thanks for reminding me about the pictures, I forgot to update the signature. 500px often applies extra sharpnening to my pics and I stopped uploading them there, I keep my Flickr page more updated! flickr.com/photos/107755637@N06/
So, I have a big test on Sunday. Will the rain gods rule on my favor and hopefully be postponed or at least, enjoy a bit of cool rain while my brain is squeezed?
Oi vey, I have a flight from Taiwan to Korea Thursday next week and a flight from Korea to the USA on Friday. Getting stranded in Korea wouldn’t be that bad though, at least I have friends there. Still, the thought of flying during a typhoon really scares the crap out of me, espeically after what happened to that flight to Penghu last year.