You better watch out: Tropical Cyclone Rai bringing a cold, wet Christmas to Hong Kong

Temperatures also expected to dip this weekend, hitting a low of 14 degrees on Sunday as Legislative Council election polls open

Rain expected to fall by early or the middle of next week and continue through Boxing Day

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Hong Kong temperatures are set to drop over the weekend. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Published: 4:12pm, 17 Dec 2021Updated: 9:23pm, 17 Dec 2021

Hongkongers should brace for a cool and rainy Christmas courtesy of a typhoon now moving across the Philippines and South China Sea, the Observatory said on Friday.

An intense northeast monsoon, meanwhile, is expected to lower weekend temperatures, with Saturday ranging from 16 to 21 degrees Celsius in urban areas and a few degrees lower in the New Territories. Friday saw temperatures of 17 to 26 degrees.

The temperature will then fall to 14 degrees by Sunday morning as the city turns its eyes to a long-awaited Legislative Council election.

It will be windy in the next couple of days, cool on Sunday morning, and cloudy with rain on Monday and Tuesday.

Tropical Cyclone Rai was moving across the Philippines and expected to enter the southern part of the South China Sea on Friday in the next few days, according to the forecaster.

Cloud bands associated with Rai will bring rainy weather to the northern part of the sea and along the coast of neighbouring Guangdong province by early to mid next week.