The month just past was significantly hotter and drier than usual, with the Hong Kong Observatory revealing an average temperature of 0.7 ºC above the norm and only a third of the usual rainfall.
According to the latest figures, the mean temperature in August 2015 was 29.3 ºC, compared to the normal 28.6 ºC for this time of year, making it the seventh hottest August on record.
This figure was no doubt helped by the scorcher on Aug. 8, which saw the mercury reach an all-time high of 36.3 ºC at the Hong Kong Observatory, and an incredible 39.7 ºC reported in Happy Vally.
Rainfall for August was just 143.3 millimetres, only about one-third of the normal figure of 432.2 millimetres.
The very hot conditions began from Aug. 3-7, with daily maximum temperatures exceeding 33 ºC. The heat then became even more intense on Aug. 8 and 9 as Typhoon Soudelor made landfall over Fujian, and Hong Kong received her hot and hazy subsidence fart.
After the Aug. 8 crazy day, the weather became unsettled the next night, with thunderstorms then affecting the territory more or less solidly until Aug 16. A Red Storm warning was issued on Aug. 15 when more than 100 millimetres of rain fell over the New Territories.
Hong Kong then got another blast of heat at the end of the month as Typhoon Goni tracked her way east of Taiwan and also trumped in our direction.
Let’s hope September brings some actual typhoons so we can all have (another) impromptu day off work.
Photo: Chi King
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co.
