Taipei spent the last days of September under heat advisories. The Central Weather Administration warned eight municipalities, including Taipei and New Taipei, that noon temperatures could pass 36 degrees Celsius, and told people to cut outdoor exercise, drink water, and watch for heat illness.
That pattern is about to change. Forecasters say seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen on Thursday and begin to affect Taiwan on Friday, October 2 — the same Friday this paper dates. Showers are expected north of Taoyuan, along the east coast, on the Hengchun Peninsula, and in the mountains. Elsewhere the sky stays mostly cloudy to sunny. Highs in the north should slip from the mid-30s toward about 30 or 31 degrees; nights fall toward the low 20s.
For anyone who planned a river-path ride or a Yangmingshan walk on the weekend, that is the difference between a sun hat and a light shell. Afternoon mountain showers remain likely even when the basin looks fair in the morning. The CWA’s Monday note still put northern highs in a 23–35 range through midweek; the northeasterly shift is the first real autumn signal after a long, hot Mid-Autumn stretch.
The same winds will roughen waters off the northeast and the Hengchun coast. Swimmers and small-boat operators should treat the weekend as a wind-and-swell period, not a late-summer beach day. Indoor plans are easier: museums, covered markets, and MRT-connected malls will feel less punishing than an exposed plaza at noon.
Commuters already know the drill. A northeasterly shower can soak the last three blocks from the station even when the radar looked clear at breakfast. Keep a compact umbrella in the bag through Sunday. If you work outdoors — delivery, construction, night-market stalls — the drop in peak heat is welcome, but wet pavement and gusts on bridges are the new hazard.
None of this is a typhoon. It is the ordinary turn of the season, arriving on schedule after a week of heat warnings. Treat Friday as the start of a cooler, damper north, and pack for rain rather than for another 36-degree noon.