Approaching northeasterly winds will send temperatures down to 22 degrees Celsius and bring rain to northern Taiwan starting Saturday night, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has forecast.

CWB forecaster Chen I-hsiu (???) said the coming seasonal winds could be the strongest since September and destabilize weather conditions around Taiwan, in particular in the north.

Temperatures will fall to 22 degrees in northern Taiwan and 23-24 degrees in central and southern Taiwan on Saturday night and result in a day-night temperature differential that could top 10 degrees, Chen said.

Before the arrival of the seasonal winds, the weather during the day Saturday remained hot, with daytime temperatures Saturday topping out at 36.2 degrees in Hsinchu City, 35.1 degrees in Miaoli County, and 35.0 degrees in Tainan.

Chen said the seasonal winds will continue into early Monday morning when they will have the greatest effect, sending temperatures down to 20 degrees in northern Taiwan, 21-22 degrees in central and southern Taiwan, and 23 degrees in Taitung in southeastern Taiwan.

Northern Taiwan could see heavier rain Saturday night and into Sunday due to the weather system, while sporadic showers are possible in Hualien and Taitung in the east. Little moisture is likely for central and southern Taiwan despite thick cloud cover, Chen said.

Strong winds are likely for most of Taiwan and its offshore islands, according to the CWB forecast.

Once the seasonal winds leave Taiwan early Monday, Chen said, the weather should become stable later in the day and daytime temperatures are forecast to pick up to more than 30 degrees in western Taiwan, 28-29 degrees in the east, and 31-32 in the south on Tuesday.

Wu Der-rong (???), a meteorologist and adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University, said another weather front is expected to start to affect Taiwan on Oct. 22, but temperatures will not fall much.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Namtheum, which was located 4,240 kilometers east of Taipei as of 8 a.m. Saturday and was moving in a northerly direction, was unlikely to have any effect on Taiwan, the CWB said.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel