Historical Records of Using Typhoon Gun and Explosives as Tropical Cyclone Warning in Hong Kong during 1884-1937
Historical Records of Using Typhoon Gun and Explosives as Tropical Cyclone Warning in Hong Kong during 1884-1937
In 1884, the Hong Kong Observatory started to provide tropical cyclone warning services to local public through the use of “typhoon gun”. When a tropical cyclone was approaching and was expected to bring gales to the territory, the typhoon gun would be fired once to warn the public. When winds with hurricane force were expected locally, the typhoon gun would be fired twice. When the wind direction was likely to change suddenly, the typhoon gun would be fired again to remind the public. Since 1907, the typhoon gun was replaced by explosives which produced louder sounds. When winds with hurricane force were expected locally, three explosives would be fired at intervals of ten seconds. According to available records, the typhoon gun was fired for the first time on 21 August 1884. The last time that explosives were fired locally was on 2 September 1937.
This webpage shows the historical records of using “typhoon gun” and explosives as tropical cyclone warning in Hong Kong between 1884 and 1937.
- Searching Period:[1884-08 to 1937-09]
- Filter by Month:[All]
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- Tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific basin were not named before 1950s. In this webpage, a tropical cyclone ID was used to identify each storm based on the year of occurrence and chronological order of the warning time. For example, 1884 #01 refers to the first tropical cyclone necessitated the issuance of warning in 1884.
- The numbered tropical cyclone warning signal system was introduced in Hong Kong in 1917 (please refer to the relevant webpage for details), but only hurricane warning required the firing of explosives. This webpage refers to the tropical cyclone ID of that webpage. For example, while 1918 #03 was the third tropical cyclone necessitated the issuance of signal in 1918, it was also the first tropical cyclone required the firing of explosives in 1918.
- The records of the use of typhoon gun and explosives are based on the publications or press reports at the time and may not be exhaustive.