Following yet another week of scorching weather and thunderstorms, every Hongkonger’s search bar is once again filled with queries on whether or not there’ll be a typhoon this weekend. Since Typhoon Maliksi back in the end of May, Hong Kong has yet to experience another tropical cyclone, but word on the street is that there’s one imminently sweeping in.
According to the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO), there are currently low-pressure systems over the western North Pacific which may interact with the low-pressure trough over the South China Sea. The latter is forecast to move northward over the weekend, while the former looks likely to develop over the next few days, sweeping towards the seas near Taiwan. Since the area of low pressure is gradually intensifying, the HKO expects a tropical cyclone to develop later in the day on Friday, July 19. While weather movements are obviously subject to change, it looks like the cyclone will enter within 800 kilometres of Hong Kong on Saturday, July 20.
As of the time of writing, Hongkongers will slog through the thunderstorm-filled Friday, July 19, to find showers and very hot weather on Saturday reaching highs of 33 degrees Celsius. Thereafter, Sunday looks to be gloomy, with showers and sunny intervals in the early part of the day, before devolving into squally thunderstorms to wrap up the weekend.
The HKO will consider issuing No. 1 Standby Signal on Saturday from the afternoon onwards. Keep up to date on weather developments on the HKO website.
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