Find out how Hong Kong's weather shattered numerous records in 2017

Published: 
South China Morning Post
Listen to this article

Last year was one of the hottest ever, with a total of 41 nights when temperatures rose above 28 degrees

South China Morning Post |
Published: 
Comment

Latest Articles

Hong Kong schools to hold National Security Education Day next month

Hong Kong to showcase about 100 masterpieces from the Palace of Versailles

Hong Kong English teachers to undergo IELTS instead of local assessment

DSE 2024: To ace English Paper 1, pay attention to details and use ChatGPT to study

Australia’s ‘earless dragon’ faces extinction due to climate change

Hong Kong recorded extremely high temperatures last year.

Last year saw a number of temperature records being broken in Hong Kong. 2017 was one of the top three hottest years in history, with the city seeing the highest temperature ever on record in August – 36.6 degrees Celsius, according to weather reports released by the Hong Kong Observatory.

Hong Kong also saw 41 nights when the temperature was higher than 28 degrees Celsius in 2017 – another record – as well as eight tropical cyclones.

There were only seven days in early 2017 where the temperature dropped enough for the Observatory to call them cold days. This is well below the historical average of 17 cold days. Temperatures in January were also the hottest on record, and averaged 18.5 degrees. The coldest temperature registered was 10.6 degrees.

There were also 48 thunderstorms. Fifteen of them happened in July, making it one of the stormiest months ever. Five typhoons were ranked as being T8 or above. This list includes Typhoon Hato, which injured 129 people in the city and caused a lot of damage in Macau. It also made sea levels rise to about 3.6 metres, which is the second highest since records began in 1954. The highest was Typhoon Wanda’s sea levels in 1962, which were 3.8 metres.

The year did not break all records, however. In 2014, there were 59 stormy days. It was also not the wettest year on record either. In June 2017, Hong Kong recorded 646mm rainfall. But in the same month in 2008, a total of 1,346.1mm of rain fell on the city.

Edited by Ginny Wong

Sign up for the YP Teachers Newsletter
Get updates for teachers sent directly to your inbox
By registering, you agree to our T&C and Privacy Policy
Comment