Nock-ten's outer bands to bring squally rain

Strong winds and squally rain from the outer bands of Severe Tropical Storm Nock-ten began buffeting Hong Kong last night, prompting the Observatory to raise the No 3 strong wind signal.

It warned people to stay away from coastal areas and take precautionary measures but said it was unlikely that the No 8 signal would be raised if the storm continued on its present path.

At 9pm last night, the fast-moving storm was 450 kilometres south of Hong Kong and forecast to move west-northwest at about 20km/h towards Hainan .

If it stayed on its present track, it would pass about 400 kilometres southwest of the city tomorrow morning, the observatory said.

Rain from the storm brought some respite to Hong Kong after the city had baked in high temperatures this week.

Temperatures at Chek Lap Kok airport peaked at 36 degrees Celsius early yesterday afternoon but fell to below 33 degrees in the evening as the city came under the influence of strong winds and rain.