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Jess Ma

Edith Lin

Last month was the 19th wettest August in more than a century after almost 615mm of rain fell, the Hong Kong Observatory has said.
The city recorded 614.8mm of rain, more than a third – 36 per cent – up on the average for the month over the past 30 years. But record-breaking heat in July pushed the summer between June and August to one of the fourth hottest since records began in 1884.
The city’s forecaster said that rainfall of 453.2mm per month was normal, based on statistics gathered over three decades.
Meteorologists attributed the high rainfall to tropical cyclone activity in the northern part of the South China Sea. But last month was still a way off the all-time record – 1,090mm of rain fell on the city in August 1995.
Hong Kong emerges from storm Ma-on with little damage despite 14-hour signal
The Observatory, however, said the surge in rainfall was normal.
“Such short-term rainfall fluctuations cannot be summarised as an abnormal phenomenon,” said Tom Leung, a scientific assistant at the Observatory.
“We need long term statistical analysis to see if the weather has shown abnormalities.”
Leung Wing-mo, a former assistant director at the Observatory, also attributed August’s downpours to weather conditions of troughs and tropical cyclones.
He agreed more analysis would be needed to find out if last month’s rainfall was related to climate change.
“One of the characteristics of global warming is the increase of moisture in the atmosphere, it can be related to more rainfall … Weather events like rainfall can be amplified by global warming,” he said.
Hong Kong was hit by three tropical cyclones in August, including severe tropical storm Ma-on, which brought a 14-hour No 8 typhoon signal to the city on August 23 and 24.

But the average temperature from June to August this year, 29.2 degrees Celsius, was the fourth hottest summer logged, despite the rain. The highest was two years ago with an average temperature of 29.6 degrees.
But July was Hong Kong’s hottest month on record, as the city sizzled in an average temperature of 30.3 degrees.
Clarence Fong Chi-kong, a meteorologist at the Macau-based ESCAP-WMO Typhoon Committee under the United Nations, cautioned against direct linkage of the increased August rainfall to climate change.
“Hong Kong’s rainfall in summer is normally brought by tropical cyclones and troughs, but these happen randomly … there are differences every year,” Fong said.
The rain was good news for the city’s water supply – the higher rainfall meant the city’s reservoirs were at 77.53 per cent capacity, almost 7 per cent higher than last year’s level.
The city’s 17 reservoirs have been around 70 to 85 per cent full in August every year over the past decade.
Hong Kong marks 22 hot nights in July, most since records began in 1884
Professor Ho Kin-chung, an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong’s geography department, explained that sudden heavy rainfall could cause reservoirs to overflow but that most were interconnected to prevent water from being wasted.
“If a reservoir is full, water will be diverted to another one. Most importantly, the biggest reservoir is not full,” Ho said, referring to the High Island Reservoir which was only at 66 per cent capacity.
He added that city reservoirs had to be at least 70 per cent full to satisfy water demand for a month in case of an emergency.
Paul Harris, the chair professor of global and environmental studies at Education University, said the government should take action to preserve the reservoirs’ water supply.
He said a total of 33.8 million cubic metres of water overflowed in 2019 and another 14.2 million cubic metres went into the sea in 2020, despite the government trying to reduce wastage by using supplies from reservoirs for toilet flushing systems since 2014.
“The water simply overflows the reservoirs and goes into the sea. The government is really unprepared,” Harris said.

He added that reservoirs could be covered over with solar panels to reduce evaporation and save water for drought conditions.
Harris explained that, despite Dongjiang water in mainland China contributing 70 to 80 per cent of the city’s supply, Hong Kong had to protect its own reserves.
He highlighted that the mainland had experienced drought problems in recent times.
“The mainland will compete for water that currently comes to Hong Kong as water becomes scarcer,” Harris predicted.
“The preparation for that future competition is to reduce the amount of water that is used in Hong Kong.”
Harris suggested that a surcharge on households that used more water than needed should be considered.
He added that the government could develop sustainable alternative water sources, such as avoiding the use of fossil fuels to power the city’s future desalination plant in Tseung Kwan O, which is expected to complete its first stage of construction in 2023.


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A makeshift ‘umbrella’ is deployed as a man is caught in a downpour last month, one of the wettest Augusts in more than a century. Photo: Sam Tsang.


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Last month was the 19th wettest August in Hong Kong since records began in 1884. Photo: Felix Wong 

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Suen Shau-shing, 78, living in a subdivided unit at Sham Shui Po amid the heatwave. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

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News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment


Nearly 615mm of rain fell in August, 36 per cent higher than expected, but not close to record for month
High rainfall last month attributed to tropical cyclones and troughs in South China Sea, but July is one of hottest on record



Nearly 615mm of rain fell in August, 36 per cent higher than expected, but not close to record for month.
