How did the Observatory get it wrong?
Our city appeared to have been unprepared for the polar air flow that plunged the mercury to a record low in many years. It seems logical to ask a simple question: what is the quality of our city’s meteorological service?
At least five days before the cold snap, weather offices in the US, Japan, the UK and Europe forecast severe conditions (temperatures of 0-5 degrees Celsius, a possibility of flurries) in Hong Kong.
Yet, our very own weather scientists claimed it would only be 6 degrees at the lowest.
Well, the outcome is clear. The weather dropped to 3.1 degrees in urban areas and fell to sub-zero in the mountains. No snow but we got freezing rain, sleet, hail, gales, ice on the road... If the Hong Kong Observatory had taken reference of what their overseas counterparts projected, we would not have had 130 people, including runners in a cross-country race, trapped in the mountains exposing themselves to freezing temperatures for hours.
The gale actually added to the windchill and the entire city experienced sub-zero windchill the whole of Sunday.
We are lucky that we have had no cases of hypothermia of the elderly.