Director’s Briefing: Warmer Than Normal Year Expected, New Weather Services Launched

Director’s Briefing: Warmer Than Normal Year Expected,
New Weather Services Launched

Editorial Board

Dr Cheng Cho-ming, the Director, hosted the press briefing and introduced the new
“Hong Kong Hiking Trail Weather Service” website

Dr Cheng Cho-ming, the Director, hosted a press briefing on 23 March, to recap the weather in 2019 and elaborate on the weather outlook for Hong Kong this year as well as introduce the Observatory’s latest developments.

On the annual weather outlook for Hong Kong in 2020, the Observatory predicted that the tropical cyclone season may start in or after June in Hong Kong this year. It is expected that there will be four to seven tropical cyclones coming within 500 kilometres of Hong Kong this year, which is normal. Under the effect of global warming, the annual mean temperature this year is expected to be above normal, with a high chance of reaching the warmest top 10 on record. The annual rainfall is expected to be normal to below normal, but Hong Kong may still be affected by heavy rain. Members of the public should be prepared for the rain and typhoon seasons.

The Observatory has also launched several new weather services, including enhancing the provision of thunderstorm-related information to alert the public, extending the forecast area of the “Tropical Cyclone Track Probability Forecast”, and launching the “Hong Kong Hiking Trail Weather Service” webpage. For details, please refer to the articles in the “New Milestones” section of this newsletter.