Southeastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula will see more persistent showers and thunderstorms late Tuesday than elsewhere on the island due to Tropical Storm Ma’on, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has forecast.
Those regions could also be hit by sporadic downpours, according to the CWB, which also forecast intermittent showers or thunderstorms for southern, eastern and southeastern Taiwan on Tuesday.
Ma’on formed as a tropical storm in waters east of the Philippines on Monday afternoon. At around 11 a.m. Tuesday, it was situated in waters 595 kilometers south-southeast of Eluanbi, Taiwan’s southernmost point, the bureau said.
The storm was moving in a northwest direction at a speed of 27 kilometers per hour, packing sustained winds of 90 km per hour and gusts of up to 118.8 kph, it said.
Though the CWB said the storm’s course remained uncertain, it expected Ma’on to move toward waters close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas (Dongsha) Islands in the South China Sea later Tuesday and then veer toward Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong province.
Ma’on “will be relatively closer to Taiwan from tonight to tomorrow,” the bureau said.
Mostly cloudy skies were expected throughout Taiwan during the day Tuesday, with areas south of Chiayi County and mountainous areas across the island expected to receive intermittent showers in the afternoon, the CWB forecast.
Daytime highs on Tuesday will reach 37 degrees Celsius or higher in the Greater Taipei area and the Hualien section of the East Rift Valley and Taitung County in eastern Taiwan, the CWB forecast, and it warned of high ultraviolet radiation around noon.
Also on Tuesday, the CWB issued a red-color heat warning indicating three consecutive days of highs above 38 degrees for Taitung and the Hualien valley and an orange alert indicating a single-day high of 38 degrees for Taipei and New Taipei.
The weather bureau also issued an alert indicating three days of highs over 36 degrees for Taoyuan, Chiayi City, Nantiou County, Yilan County, and Pingtung County.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel