Read More
Hong Kong experienced a much hotter-than-usual August, with several temperature records broken during the month, the Hong Kong Observatory said on Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
The unusually hot conditions were attributed to warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures over the northern part of the South China Sea, southwesterly flow in the lower atmosphere over the coast of southern China, and hot weather brought by the outer subsiding air of Tropical Cyclone Dolphin.
The monthly mean temperature stood at 29.5 degrees Celsius, while the mean minimum and mean maximum temperatures were 27.6 degrees and 32.1 degrees respectively.
The readings were 0.8 degrees, 0.9 degrees and 0.8 degrees above their respective normals, ranking among the third-highest, fourth-highest and eighth-highest on record for August.
Hong Kong also recorded nine consecutive very hot days from August 5 to 13, one of the longest such spells on record for the month.
Within that period, three consecutive extremely hot days were recorded from August 9 to 11 — both the highest number of extremely hot days and the longest consecutive spell of such conditions ever recorded in August.
The temperature at the Observatory surged to an all-time high of 36.9 degrees on August 9, while Sheung Shui recorded 39.8 degrees, the highest temperature measured in Hong Kong since automatic weather stations were introduced in the 1980s.
Another record was set on August 12, when the minimum temperature at the Observatory was 30.2 degrees, the highest daily minimum temperature on record.
The prolonged heat also contributed to a slightly warmer-than-usual summer. The mean temperature from June to August was 28.9 degrees, or 0.2 degrees above normal.
Apart from the heat, August was drier than usual, with monthly rainfall totaling 380 millimeters, about 16 percent below the normal 453.2 millimeters.
Accumulated rainfall in the first eight months of the year, however, reached 2,357.6 millimeters, about 23 percent above the normal 1,921.5 millimeters for the same period.
