No snow was reported to have fallen on Yushan, Taiwan’s highest peak, during this past December-February winter season, for the first time since records were kept, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Tuesday.

This season saw no snow at all, whereas the latest in the year that snow has been recorded falling on Yushan, also known as Jade Mountain, was Jan. 21, 2019, according to Chen Yi-liang (???), deputy head of CWB’s Weather Forecast Center, in a quarterly press briefing.

Meanwhile, average temperatures in Yushan this season passed the seasonal average of 2.9 degrees Celsius to reach 3.03 degrees, the third highest in history, Chen said.

The highest average winter temperature ever recorded in Yushan was 4.2 degrees in 1949-1950, followed by 4 degrees in 2019-2020, bureau data showed.

During the past winter, Taiwan also experienced uneven rainfall between its northeastern region and the rest of the country, Chen said, adding that rainfall in central and southern Taiwan was less than 40 percent of its long-term average.

The average accumulation recorded by the five weather stations in Hsinchu and areas south of it (Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan and Hengchun) was 31.4 millimeters, the lowest in the past 60 years, he said.

In addition, those stations averaged only nine rainy days between December 2022 and February 2023, the second-lowest in history, following eight rainy days in the winter between 2018-2019, Chen said.

Looking ahead, Taiwan may see normal to below average rainfall in the spring, while central and southern Taiwan may not see significant rain until the plum rain season starts in May, according to Chen.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel