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Weatherwise, 2005 was an eventful year for the world. Most notably, there were severe droughts in parts of Africa, western Europe and Australia, record-breaking heavy rain in India, and an extremely active hurricane season in northern Atlantic.
In Hong Kong, 2005 was the third wettest year on record, mostly due to a very active southwest monsoon in June and August, bringing in plenty of moisture. The total rainfall of 3214.5 millimetres was 45.2% above normal. June, 2005, was the fourth wettest since records began in 1884, and August, 2005, the second wettest. The rainfall in these two months alone amounted to 1865.2 mm, about 84% of the normal annual rainfall.
While an unprecedented number of 26 named storms occurred in northern Atlantic against a normal of about 10, 2005 fell in a period of low tropical cyclone activity in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea, where only 26 tropical cyclones formed in the year, compared with the normal of 31. Three tropical cyclones affected Hong Kong in 2005, roughly half the normal figure. The first tropical cyclone warning signal of the year was issued on August 12, the latest in post-war years.
2005 was also a hazy year. For 27.8% of the time, reduced visibility of eight kilometres or below was observed at the Hong Kong International Airport, breaking the previous record of 23.6% set in 2004. Despite a very wet June and August, below normal rainfall and hence a lack of washout processes was recorded in many other months, contributing to more frequent occurrence of haze.
January was drier than normal. With haze occurring on most of the days in the month, the number of hours of reduced visibility observed at the Hong Kong International Airport reached an all-time high value of 484 hours.
February was gloomier and more humid than usual. The monthly mean relative humidity of 86 percent was the fourth highest for February.
March and April were drier than usual.
With the monsoon trough lingering near the south China coast, May's weather was marked by heavy rain, active thunderstorms and severe squalls. The Amber Rainstorm Warning was issued seven times in the month, a new record for May since the warning system was introduced in 1998. During a rainstorm on May 9, severe gusts with speed reaching 135 kilometres per hour toppled stacked containers at container terminals in Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi, resulting in one death and two injuries. There were also more than 100 reports of fallen trees and scaffoldings in different parts of the territory.
Very wet weather continued in June. A total of 893.9 millimetres of rainfall was recorded, more than double the normal monthly figure of 376 millimetres. The first Red Rainstorm Warning of the year was also issued during the torrential rain on June 24.
July was warmer and sunnier than normal. There were reports of hail in Tsing Yi on July 21 amidst severe squally thunderstorms.
August was much wetter than normal. The total rainfall was 971.3 millimetres, almost two and a half times the normal figure of 391.4 millimetres. The Standby Tropical Cyclone Warning Signal No 1 was issued for the first time in the year on the approach of Severe Tropical Storm Sanvu.
September was marked by the hazy weather associated with the relatively weak northeast monsoon and distant tropical cyclones east of Hong Kong. The number of hours of reduced visibility observed at the Hong Kong International Airport reached 237 hours in the month, the highest for September since records began in 1997. The Standby Signal No 1 was issued during the approach of Tropical Storm Vicente. Typhoon Damrey necessitated the issuance of the first and only Strong Wind Signal No. 3 in the year.
October and November were drier and much warmer than normal. The mean minimum temperature of November was 21.4 degrees, the same as the high record set in 1998.
December was cooler and drier than normal. Frost was reported in the New Territories on December 23.
Ends/Tuesday, January 3, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:58
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