Weather watchdog says moon-gazing likely for Mid-Autumn Festival

As the Mid-Autumn Festival evening approaches, Hongkongers may be able to look up and catch a clear view of the moon after all.

The Hong Kong Observatory said on Monday that skies are expected to improve tonight as tropical cyclone Matmo drifts further away from the city and a high-altitude anticyclone strengthens over the region.

Although patches of cloud may still appear in the morning and evening, acting senior scientific officer Lui Yuk-sing told a radio program that the conditions tonight and tomorrow night should give residents a good chance to enjoy the moon.

Lui noted that this has been an unusually busy year for weather warnings. So far the Observatory has issued signals for 12 tropical cyclones, breaking the record set in 1946.

He attributed the surge to sea-surface temperatures east of the Philippines being higher than normal from June to September, fuelling more storms, while the subtropical ridge repeatedly shifted westwards, steering cyclones closer to Hong Kong and the South China Sea.

Looking ahead, Lui cautioned that the storm season is not necessarily over despite the arrival of autumn. Between 2015 and 2024, five tropical cyclones entered within 500 kilometres of the territory as late as November or December, he said.

With warm seas and the subtropical ridge still likely to remain to the west in October and November, the risk persists. He urged the public to stay alert and not to assume that the typhoon season has ended simply because of the cooler weather.