Last month was the hottest on record in Hong Kong, according to the city’s meteorological agency.
The Hong Kong Observatory said in a Facebook post on Monday that this was caused by a stronger than normal sub-tropical ridge persisting over southern China the past July.
The observatory noted that July’s weather broke or equaled 11 of the city’s records:
- Highest monthly mean temperature at 30.3 degrees Celsius, breaking the record in 2020
- Highest monthly mean maximum temperature at 33.3 degrees Celsius, equaling the 2020 record
- Highest monthly mean minimum temperature at 28.4 degrees Celsius, breaking the record in 2020
- Most days with the very hot weather warning issued at 21 days
- A total of 10 days with a maximum temperature of 35 degrees Celsius or higher recorded, breaking the annual record in a single month
- A total of 16 days with a maximum temperature of 34 degrees Celsius or higher recorded, the highest in a single month
- A total of 25 hot nights, the most in a single month
- The longest period of consecutive hot nights at 21 days
- The maximum temperature on July 24 was 36.1 degrees Celsius, the highest maximum temperature ever recorded in July
- The minimum temperature on July 25 was 29.9 degrees Celsius, the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in July
- The mean temperature on July 24 and 25 both reached 32.0 degrees Celsius, the highest on record for July
On a brighter (by which we mean cooler) note, the observatory said on its website that lower temperatures are forecast for the coming week, with an upper-air disturbance expected “to bring heavy showers and thunderstorms to southern China in the middle and latter parts of this week”.