Taiwan's Central Weather Administration's Sunday forecast keeps western Taiwan close to 36°C at the day's peak, with Surigae — a moderate typhoon — still offshore and the season's first northeast monsoon not expected until Oct. 1. The Health Ministry's heat guidance for the holiday is unchanged and deliberately unglamorous: keep cool, keep drinking water, and keep an eye on the people around you who cannot easily leave the heat.
What the forecast actually says
The CWA put Sunday's highs in the west at about 36°C, the band in which heat-illness cases typically cluster in Taiwan when humidity is high and the wind drops. Surigae was rated a moderate typhoon in the agency's 20:00 bulletin on Sept. 26 and remains the background feature offshore; it is not forecast to break the heat over the western plain. The relief date on the calendar is around Oct. 1, when the northeast monsoon is expected to arrive with cooler air and rain, mainly in the north. Until then, coastal stretches from the north coast down to Changhua and Penghu are also inside a window of astronomical high tides that runs through Sept. 30 — a separate reason to keep children away from harbor walls and river mouths.
Risk measured in exposure, not degrees
Thirty-six degrees is a reading from a weather station, not from a body. Whether a person tips from discomfort into heat exhaustion depends on humidity, wind, direct sun, the amount of time spent standing on hot pavement, and whether shade and water are within reach. That is why the ministry's public advice is built around three habits rather than one threshold: stay cool (保持涼爽), replenish water (補充水分), stay alert (提高警覺). Drinking before thirst counts. So do a wet towel, a wide-brimmed hat, and moving a lunch break indoors or into the shade.
The groups carrying the highest absolute risk are those least able to act on that advice: infants and young children, people over 65, anyone with heart, kidney or metabolic disease, people taking medication that dulls thirst or sweating, and the outdoor workers who will be on the job through the holiday — vendors, stage crews, delivery riders and traffic staff. Living alone is its own risk factor, which makes a phone call a prevention measure rather than a courtesy.
Where the holiday crowds will be
The heat arrives on a day when much of the island is outdoors. Penghu's wind-and-light music festival is in its closing stretch, with events on the calendar through Sept. 28, and Taitung's Moonlight Sea program is set for Sept. 28. In Ximending, a limited number of barbecue seats was released for Sunday, the kind of queue that keeps people standing in the sun before they sit down. Evening programs carry a lower sun load but not a zero heat load: concrete and crowded plazas hold the day's warmth, and alcohol works against hydration. A bottle of water carried from home costs less than one bought at the venue, and both cost less than an emergency department visit.
How to tell exhaustion from an emergency
Heat exhaustion looks like heavy sweating, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea and muscle cramps, often with cool, clammy skin. The response is to move the person to shade or air conditioning, loosen clothing, wet the skin, fan them, and have them sip cool water if they are fully alert.
Heat stroke is a different event. Watch for a high body temperature, confusion, slurred speech, fainting, seizures or a collapse, with skin that may be dry or still sweating. That is a 119 call. Cool the person immediately and aggressively with water, wet cloths and ice while help is coming, stay with them, and do not give fluids to anyone who is confused or unconscious.
The part that is easy to skip
The ministry's heat-illness figures are compiled after the fact, which means the forecast is the warning layer that arrives before the case. Sunday's useful decisions are small ones: shift outdoor exercise before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., check the back seat before locking a car, add a second water bottle for a child, and knock on the door of an older neighbor who lives alone. The last day of the holiday stretch is Sept. 28. The heat does not check the calendar.