March in Hong Kong was “unseasonably warm,” the Hong Kong Observatory has said, with the monthly mean temperature almost 2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal.
“With the northeast monsoon over southern China generally weaker than normal for most of the time in the month, Marsh 2023 continued to be much warmer than usual in Hong Kong,” the Observatory wrote in a statement titled “An unseasonably warm March” published on Tuesday.
The temperature peaked at 29 degrees Celsius on March 24, and was at its lowest, 16.4 degrees, on March 1.
Rainfall was also below monthly figures, making the accumulated rainfall for the first three months of the year nearly 40 per cent lower than normal figures for the same period.
Despite total monthly rainfall only reaching 70.3 millimetres, about 7 per cent lower than normal, March saw the city’s first amber rainstorm warning of the year on March 25. Rainfall that day exceeded 50 millimetres in some urban areas and parts of the New Territories.
“Hail was also reported in the vicinity of Sai Wan Ho during the passage of thunderstorms in that afternoon,” the Observatory said.
The release of weather data for March follows an earlier prediction from the Observatory that Hong Kong would experience a higher than average mean annual temperature in 2023, and normal or below normal levels of annual rainfall.
‘Extremely hot’ weather warning
Last year was “among the six warmest years” since records began in 1884, the Observatory said following global trends of rising temperatures and sea levels. During a press conference in late March, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Chan Pak-wai pointed out that the past eight years were the warmest on record globally according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
Chan said that the Observatory had been studying the health impact of extreme heat, and would begin issuing an “extremely hot” weather warning when the mercury rises to 35 degrees Celsius or more at the Observatory’s Tsim Sha Tsui headquarters or in the New Territories.
In 2022, there were 15 days when temperatures reached or exceeded 35 degrees, the most on record.
“We can conclude that [2023] is going to be among the top 10 years with the highest temperature. But then the actual number of hot days is still going to vary year to year,” Chan said, according to RTHK.
Climate advocates have sounded the alarm for the city amid more instances of extreme heat, warning of climate injustice – the way that the climate crisis disproportionately affects the most vulnerable.
In Hong Kong, outdoor workers – typically those in low-income roles such as street cleaners, labourers and delivery drivers – experience the worst of higher temperatures. Those living in substandard housing are also unduly impacted.
The outlook for this week sees warm and humid weather before a trough of low pressure brings cooler temperatures. The weather is forecast to be windy and brighter over the long Easter weekend, with temperatures rising next week.
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