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April 2008 was warmer than usual and the monthly mean temperature of 23.1 degrees was 0.6 degrees above normal. The total rainfall in the month was 255 millimetres, 66.5 millimetres above the normal amount. The accumulated rainfall since the beginning of the year was 373 millimetres, about 11% above the normal figure of 337.1 millimetres.
A fresh to strong northeast monsoon brought cloudy and rainy weather to Hong Kong on the first three days of the month. A moist and warm maritime airstream over the south China coast brought some fog patches to the territory on the mornings of April 4-6. It stayed warm with fog patches for the next four days.
A relatively cool easterly airstream arrived the south China coastal areas on April 11 and brought cooler weather to Hong Kong. It was mainly cloudy with some mist and fog patches in the ensuring three days.
The weather turned fine and hot on April 15 and 16. The maximum temperature rose to 30.8 degrees on April 16, the highest of the month. With the arrival of a replenishment of the northeast monsoon, weather turned cloudy with some rain on that day.
Under the combined effect of Typhoon Neoguri and the northeast monsoon, local winds started to pick up on April 18. Local winds became generally strong in the afternoon of April 19 when Neoguri was about 200 kilometres to the west-southwest of Hong Kong. When Neoguri approached the coast of western Guangdong, the warm southerly winds associated with Neoguri met the relatively cooler northeast monsoon and formed a warm front with severe convective activities over the coastal waters of Guangdong. The warm front moved from south to north across the coast of Guangdong and brought heavy rain to Hong Kong on that day. The total daily rainfall recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory on that day was 237.4 millimetres, the highest daily rainfall amount recorded in April since records began. After making landfall and moving further inland, Neoguri weakened rapidly. Locally, rain also eased off rapidly with just a few showers on April 20. The weather turned mainly fine for the next couple of days.
A cold front moved across the south China coast on the evening of April 22. The northeast monsoon behind the cold front brought slightly cooler and generally cloudy weather conditions to the territory from April 23 to 30.
Only one tropical cyclone occurred in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea 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 April are tabulated in Table 1.2.
Ends/Monday, May 5, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:42
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