Taipei, July 20 (CNA) An expanded weather monitoring network across the country that was completed last year has now been stabilized after extensive testing and is ready to improve Taiwan's weather forecasting, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Tuesday.

The network of 576 automatic weather monitoring stations -- some new and some existing stations that were upgraded -- mean that Taiwan now has one station every eight kilometers, the bureau said.

When the 14-year renewal project was initiated in 2006, there were 376 weather stations situated some 10 kilometers apart from one another, according to the CWB.

Many of those older stations were built mainly to collect precipitation data, but the NT$290 million (US$10.5 million) project has added several new features that enables them to now read temperatures, humidity, air pressure and wind speed, it said.

One of the expanded network's main benefits, according to the bureau, is that it will provide a more microcosmic view of the weather and offer valuable information to make forecasts more precise.

For instance, small areas where weather patterns can change quickly due to their distinctive terrain features can now be better studied.

That means the bureau will be able to develop more detailed knowledge on scorching temperatures seen in the Hualien-Taitung Valley in eastern Taiwan during the summer and the strong northeastern winds in Hengchun Peninsula in southernmost Taiwan in winter, the CWB said.