Snow Hits Taiwan Surprising Locals

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This weekend, Winter Storm Jonas hit Northeast United States blanketing the region with snow with two feet of snow from Washington D.C. to New York City. The snowfall broke records in at least six areas such as JFK International Airport with 27.9 inches. The snow has ceased, but cities are working around the clock to restore roads for the coming week.

Photo Credit: thomasmmc @Flickr CC BY 2.0

However, snow also appeared on the other side of the world in one of the most unlikely places: Taiwan.

As an island only 23 degrees north of the Equator, Taiwan is listed as subtropical. Normally having an average of 15 degrees Celsius in January, over the weekend, island-wide temperature dropped below 10 degrees with some areas dropping down below 0 degrees.

Being a rare occasion, many people reacted with joy to the snow, but it has stifled travels to a halt as multiple sections of major highways were shut down to the snow on Provincial Highway 2, 2A, 9, 9A, 7, 7A, 8, 14A, 18, 20, and 21.

Impacting more than just traffic, such low temperatures have taken a death toll of 85 people as of yesterday night with 35 in Taoyuan.