Exceptionally wet and warm March in Hong Kong may be new normal as global warming takes affect, say forecasters
- Temperatures for month up 1.9 degrees Celsius on average, while city also had double the amount of rainfall
- Hong Kong Observatory says 90 per cent chance that year could be one of the hottest in history
March in Hong Kong was exceptionally wet and warm with mean temperatures for the first three months of the year reaching an all-time high, forecasters have said.
The mean temperature in March was 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.9 degrees higher than the climatological normal between 1981 to 2010, the Hong Kong Observatory said on Tuesday.
The first three months of the year also saw record-breaking temperatures, with the mean temperature (19.7 degrees), mean maximum temperature (22.1 degrees) and mean minimum temperature (18.1 degrees) becoming the city’s hottest for that period since record keeping began in 1884 and 1885.
“The northeast monsoon over southern China was weaker than normal for the most of the month, which meant March was exceptionally warm,” Hui Kin-chung, the Observatory’s chief experimental officer, said.
“As we are being affected by global warming, temperatures in Hong Kong will inevitably be higher than normal,” he said.
The highest daily maximum temperature recorded for the month was on March 28, with 27.8 degrees, while the highest daily minimum temperature was 24.8 degrees on March 22, the joint highest on record.