What winter? Hong Kong sees one of the warmest starts to year since records began

Hong Kong has seen one of its warmest starts to a year since weather record-keeping began in the city, extending a streak of ­progressively mild and even non-existent winter conditions.

A possible return of an El Niño phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean could also lead to a later start to the typhoon season and more rainfall locally in the coming winter and spring.

Mean temperatures from ­December to February hovered at a balmy 18.4 degrees Celsius, which was 1.4 degrees higher than the 30-year normal reading ­between 1981 and 2010.

“The general impression is that there really wasn’t much of a winter this year,” Observatory director Shun Chi-ming said. “All of 2016 was already warmer than usual. We can all feel the impact of climate change deeply.”

The last time mean winter temperatures hit such levels was in the 1998-99 winter. That winter and last year’s are tied as the city’s warmest since the Observatory began collecting data in 1884.