Favorable weather to allow Mid-Autumn Festival moon gazing

Taiwan will experience partly cloudy to sunny weather this week, with favorable conditions for moon-gazing during the Mid- Autumn Festival on Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday.

CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said that generally cloudy to sunny conditions with relatively little moisture are expected across Taiwan through Saturday.

Cheng said seasonal northerly to northeasterly winds are expected today and tomorrow, bringing isolated brief showers to southern Taiwan and mountainous areas in central Taiwan early in the morning.

A graphic shows expected rainfall around Taiwan from today until Sunday.

Photo courtesy of the Central Weather Administration

More rain is possible in mountainous areas in southern Taiwan in the afternoon on both days, while isolated brief showers are also expected along the northern coast and in northeastern Taiwan tomorrow, he said.

From Wednesday to Saturday, winds are forecast to shift to an easterly direction, with isolated brief showers expected along the northern coast, in eastern Taiwan and on the Hengchun Peninsula.

Meanwhile, localized brief showers are possible in mountainous areas in southern Taiwan in the afternoon, while isolated brief showers are expected in southern Taiwan and mountainous areas in the northern half of Taiwan, Cheng said.

With weather conditions on Friday and Saturday expected to remain generally stable, with only occasional clouds in eastern Taiwan, most areas across Taiwan will have good opportunities to view the full moon, he said.

Taiwan celebrates the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, which falls on Friday this year.

Beginning Sept. 27, however, weather conditions are expected to become unstable as tropical systems develop and change course, bringing localized brief showers to eastern Taiwan and the Hengchun Peninsula in the south, Cheng warned.

Temperatures are expected to remain relatively stable over the week, Cheng said, with highs of around 29-32°C in northern and eastern Taiwan and 32-34°C in central and southern Taiwan.

In addition, Cheng reminded people traveling to Japan to pay attention to Typhoon Dujuan, which remained over waters south of Japan yesterday and had begun shifting its track toward the northeast.

Wind and rain are already affecting Japan’s Kanto region, with the typhoon’s most significant impact expected from this afternoon through tomorrow, he said.