Waterspout Spotted in Hong Kong Waters

The duty officer at the Observatory's Airport Meteorological Office in Chek Lap Kok observed a funnel cloud near Deep Bay at around 8:45 am this morning (Figure 1). The funnel cloud was captured on video available athttp://www.youtube.com/hkweather#p/f/4/UlBX22dBm3o . Thereafter, reports were received from the Government Flying Service and a number of citizens about the sighting of at least three waterspouts over Deep Bay between 8:30 am and 9:00 am off Ha Pak Nai (see Figure 2). An area of intense thunderstorm was also detected by the Observatory's weather radar at around that time (see Figure 3). Locally, under the influence of a trough of low pressure, the weather was unstable with thunderstorms, giving rise to heavy rain and favourable conditions for the formation of waterspouts.

In Hong Kong, a waterspout was last spotted on 22 July 2010. Since 1959, there have been a total of 40 reports of waterspouts sighted within 460 kilometres of Hong Kong. Waterspouts are more commonly seen in July. The Observatory had received reports of waterspout on four separate days in July of 2003.

Fig. 1 The funnel cloud observed from the Airport Meteorological Office

Fig. 2 Two waterspouts photographed from Shenzhen towards Deep Bay (picture courtesy of Mr Li Gang)

Fig. 3 An area of intense thunderstorms near Deep Bay detected by the Observatory's weather radar at 9:00 am