We’re still in the thick of summer in Hong Kong – for more than a month now, citizens have been grappling with soaring temperatures, heavy downpours, and the ever-looming threat of typhoons. If you thought this summer has been particularly brutal, you’re not weak or imagining it. The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) has confirmed that we’ve just experienced an ‘exceptionally hot’ July this year.
A subtropical ridge that’s stronger than usual has dominated over southern China for the majority of July, causing the monthly mean air temperature to be one degree Celsius higher than usual at 29.9, and the monthly rainfall to be 19 percent above the norm at 458.5 millimetres. The very hot weather warning was in place for 18 days of last month. The hottest day proved to be July 7, with temperatures at HKO rising to a maximum of 34.8 degrees Celsius, though temperatures on July 7 and 10 did also exceed 35 degrees Celsius in some locations.
Mainland Chinese weather authorities have said that July was the country’s hottest month since records began in 1961. While temperatures can differ greatly across the country’s vast landmass, the mean temperature in every province was higher than the July average from previous years, with the provinces of Guizhou and Yunnan in southwestern China in particular recording their highest-ever averages.
To add to the scorching heat, there were also some areas of low pressure that intensified into tropical cyclones and depressions in the vicinity of Hong Kong, such as the tropical storm Prapiroon which moved across Hainan and then inland into Vietnam, as well as the super typhoon Gaemi which swept across Taiwan and Fujian. Thankfully, Hong Kong was not negatively affected apart from monsoons and thundery showers.
As for this weekend, an anticyclone aloft is predicted to bring weather that is fine but persistently very hot, lasting over the weekend to the middle of next week. There isn’t expected to be much wind, so don’t forget your portable fans!
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