What can I say about Taiwan’s weather? I come from California, the west coast of the United States, where the weather is a nice 80+ degree Fahrenheit (29+ Celsius) in Los Angeles and a brisk 65+ degrees (18+ C) in San Francisco. Precipitation rarely occurs in Los Angeles while it occurs regularly around the winter/spring season in San Francisco.
Taiwan on the other hand is a tropical island surrounded on all 4 sides by the Pacific ocean. The temperature averages around 30-35 degrees Celsius (86 F – 95 F) and rains just about every other day. I don’t think I’ve gone a week yet without it raining at least once during the week. Since Taiwan is such a small island surrounded by the vast ocean, you can probably guess the weather here is completely dominated by what the ocean pumps out.
Not only is it hot and precipitation nearly constantly flowing, the high humidity is what I hate the most about Taiwan’s weather. The humidity makes it such that once you step outside, you’ll be sweating all over. Once you get back inside with the AC, you’ll develop a sticky feeling with the sweat drying up on your back.
The humidity not only makes it difficult to stay dry, but it also causes food to spoil at an exponential rate. If you don’t finish any food, you better stick it in the fridge immediately. Otherwise, you’ll start to notice little flies buzzing around and probably mold growing by the time you wake up the next day. Even dry crackers that are not properly enclosed will rot as one of my school mates here can attest to. 
Back onto the topic of precipitation, rain occurs so often and at a specific time that there’s even a special name for the rain: Afternoon Thunderstorms, or in Chinese 午後雷陣雨. The day might start out a sunny 32 degrees, but once 1:00 pm rolls around, the clouds would drift in bringing a downpour for a few hours before leaving, letting the sun make a come back before nightfall.
Even though it constantly rains, that is not the most dangerous weather around. Rain is a small matter compared to the typhoons that come here quite frequently. On my 7th week here in Taiwan at this posting time, I’ve seen 2 typhoons (one on the day I arrived, another a few weeks ago) with a 3rd coming in less than 24 hours. What’s a typhoon? I’m not really sure how it compares to hurricanes (which is what we typically hear about in the states). In fact wikipedia even combines searches for both keywords into a single article: Tropical cyclone, which leads me to believe they are the same phenomenon. In any case, typhoons sometimes causes all businesses and schools to take a break when it passes by if it’s considered especially strong. Otherwise daily life continues on without a hitch.
You would think Taiwan’s weather in all the cities would be pretty much the same since Taiwan is such a small island right? I was shocked to find out in fact it is quite different. There could be torrential rainfall in Taipei, while it’s blazing hot 25 miles (40 km) away in Yilan City. Weird, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes so I know it’s true. 
So what have I learned these past few weeks living here in Taiwan? Mainly that Taiwan is completely different from where I grew up in California. While the humidity and constant rain gets annoying, the clouds in the sky can lead to some great photo opportunities, such as this:
As I’ve come here to learn more about Chinese culture, I’ve accepted Taiwan’s weather as just another part of the Taiwanese culture. For anyone coming to visit Taiwan, hope this weather guide helps you plan on what to expect. 