Thunderstorm in Taiwan and Its Impact on Railway

• DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9751
• Publication Date: 2025-03-14T22:04:43Z
• Authors: Chi-June Jung; Ben Jong-Dao Jou; Ko Pak Tin Boaz; Yi-Hsi Lee; Kai-Shiang Yang

Severe convective storms frequently occur in Taiwan, bringing heavy rainfall, strong winds, and lightning. These events significantly disrupt critical infrastructure, including railways, by causing operational delays damage to facilities. The proximity of the railway network high-frequency thunderstorm zones highlights need for tailored meteorological applications mitigate these risks. Heavy rainfall wind gust are key characteristics severe storms. Analysis a event Taipei Basin demonstrates that merged cells can produce extreme rain rates exceeding 60 mm 20 minutes, which is closely tied urban flash flood occurrences. Microbursts, identified through radar signatures like descending precipitation cores near-ground divergent outflows, further exacerbate hazards, generating gusts 10 m/s. To address challenges, Central Weather Administration issues real-time warnings based on observations, such as echoes > 55 dBZ 60-minute 40 mm. Since 2024, National Taiwan University has collaborated with Railway Company implement targeted warnings. alerts, distributed via LINE app, provide updates affected sections, improving disaster preparedness resilience. Between April October alerts were issued various disasters, flooding, fallen trees, landslides. However, actual occurrence rate was only 2%. To reduce false alarms enhance accuracy warnings, radar-based quantitative forecast (QPF) thresholds being introduced. efforts aim strengthen safety minimize disruptions caused weather events.