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February, 2006, was warmer and sunnier than usual. The mean temperature of 17.7 degrees was 1.8 degrees above normal and ranked the 10th highest for February. The total duration of bright sunshine was 123.2 hours, 25.5 hours above normal.
Beset by hazy weather, the number of hours of reduced visibility observed at the Hong Kong International Airport reached 365 hours (about 54 % of the time) in the month, setting a new record for February since observation began in 1997. The monthly total rainfall was 37.7 millimetres, 10.3 millimetres below the normal amount.
Under the influence of a weak northeast monsoon, it was mainly fine and hazy on the first day of February. Fine weather continued in the ensuing two days while the visibility improved as the winds picked up speed. The weather turned cool and cloudy on February 4 when a cold front moved across the south China coast early that morning. The clouds dispersed and there were sunny periods on February 5.
Dominated by a continental airstream, there was plenty of sunshine from February 6 to 10. Under light wind conditions, it was hazy on February 11 and 12 with visibility generally falling below 4000 metres in Hong Kong. Easterly winds strengthened later on February 12 and cleared the haze.
A broad band of cloud covered southern China and brought some rain to the territory on February 13 and 14. When a maritime airstream set in on the morning of February 15, it was foggy with visibility dropping below 1000 metres inside the harbour. The fog and clouds dispersed later during the day and it was warm in the afternoon sunshine. Warm and misty conditions persisted on February 16 and the temperature rose to 25.3 degrees, the highest in the month. A cold front crossed the south China coast that night, bringing clouds and some rain to the territory on February 17. It was rather cool in the next two days.
Haze returned on February 20 when the northeast monsoon weakened. It was fine and warm in the following two days.
Another cold front reached the coast of Guangdong in the small hours of February 23, bringing cloudy weather to Hong Kong. The weather remained cloudy with rain patches in the following two days. The northeast monsoon strengthened on the night of February 26. It remained windy and cool with rain patches the next day. Accompanied by the rain, the strong northerlies brought the temperature down to 9.7 degrees on the night of February 28, the lowest in the month.
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. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal of February are shown in Table 2.
Ends/Thursday, March 2, 2006
Issued at HKT 15:03
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