Hong Kong records hottest day for July in almost half a century as Typhoon Nepartak nears
Several districts including Shau Kei Wan, Wong Tai Sin and Sha Tin see the mercury climb to over 37 degrees on Saturday, with Happy Valley the hottest, at 37.9
Temperatures in the city reached their highest levels for July in half a century on Saturday with the Hong Kong Observatory recording readings of 37 degrees Celsius in several districts in the afternoon as Typhoon Nepartak edged closer to the city.
A spokesperson for the Observatory said it recorded a reading of 35.6 degrees Celsius at its office, the second highest on record for July and the hottest so far this year.
In July 1968, the temperature reached 35.7 degrees Celsius at the same location, which is used as a historical comparison.
Several districts including Shau Kei Wan, Wong Tai Sin and Sha Tin saw the mercury climb to over 37 degrees on Saturday, with Happy Valley the hottest, at 37.9 degrees, according to Observatory readings.
The extremely hot weather prompted the Home Affairs Department to open 15 heat shelters across Hong Kong in a bid to prevent people suffering heatstroke.
Although “the very hot weather warning” remains in force, a few showers brought by Nepartak were expected to cool down the city on Sunday.
The Observatory forecast the weather on Sunday will be mainly cloudy, with temperatures ranging from 27 to 33 degrees.
“The weather will be more showery in the following couple of days,” it said.
At the same time, it issued a thunderstorm warning at 6.45pm on Saturday as isolated thunderstorms were expected to occur over New Territories East.
“Tropical cyclone Nepartak will move across inland Fujian and weaken gradually today and tomorrow ... An active southwesterly airstream is expected to bring showers to the south China coast early next week,” the Observatory said in a statement, adding that the weather would improve over the region next week as an anticyclone over southern China strengthens gradually.
