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Hong Kong has just experienced its warmest February on record. Both the monthly mean temperature of 19.5 degrees and the mean daily minimum temperature of 17.8 degrees were the highest for February. It was also sunnier and drier than usual. The total duration of bright sunshine was 129.6 hours, 31.9 hours above normal. Only 6.9 millimetres of rainfall were recorded during the month, about one seventh of the normal figure of 48.0 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall in the first two months of the year was 36.5 millimetres, about half of the normal figure of 71.4 millimetres for the same period.
Under the influence of the northeast monsoon, it was sunny and dry on the first four days of the month. The weather remained generally fine and mild between February 5 and 7 with a ridge of high pressure dominating over southeastern China.
A maritime airstream brought warm and sunny weather to the territory on February 8 and 9. The temperature rose up to 25.6 degrees on February 9, the highest in the month.
The local weather turned cloudy on February 10 and 11 when a surge of the northeast monsoon arrived at the south China coast. Clouds thinned out on February 12 and there were sunny periods in the ensuing two days. It was also misty on February 14 with the visibility in the harbour falling below 3000 metres. A cold front moved across the south China coast on February 15 and brought some rain patches to the territory. The weather stayed cloudy with light rain the next day.
Under the influence of a maritime airstream, it was warm with fog patches on February 17 and 18. The maximum temperature on February 18 reached 25.3 degrees, making it the warmest Lunar New Year's Day on record.
Another cold front arrived at the coast of Guangdong on February 19, bringing some rain patches to Hong Kong. It was misty with some rain in the following three days.
The weather became fine on February 23 but rain patches returned on February 24 when local winds strengthened from the northeast. A trough of low pressure moved across the south China coast and brought some rain to the territory on the morning of February 25. While it was cloudy on February 26, the weather became mainly fine the next day.
It was cloudy on the last day of the month as the winds strengthened from the east.
There was no tropical cyclone over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in the month.
Details of the issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1.1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal of February are tabulated in Table 1.2.
Ends/Friday, March 2, 2007
Issued at HKT 17:00
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