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Hong Kong Observatory 2020 ` Hong Kong Observatory 2020 INTRODUCTION record. The total annual rainfall of 2,395.0 millimetres remained near normal. The three main objectives of the Hong Kong Observatory (the Observatory) are: There were 50 Hot Nights and 47 Very Hot Days in Hong Kong in 2020, both ranking the highest on record. The lowest temperature recorded at the (1) to provide weather forecasts and warnings Hong Kong Observatory in the year was 8.1 degrees to meet the public’s demand for weather on 31 December. The number of Cold Days in the services, and to provide weather services year was 11 days, which is 6.1 days less than the for aviation and shipping in accordance 1981-2010 normal. with international standards; (2) to monitor local environmental radiation levels and impacts, and to advise the Government on counter-measures that may be necessary during nuclear emergencies; (3) to maintain the Hong Kong time standard and to provide geophysical, oceanographic, astronomical and climatological information and consultative services to the public and business sectors. Long-term time series of annual mean temperature in Hong Kong (1885-2020) During the financial year 2020-21, the department’s total expenditure was $408.4 million Five tropical cyclones affected the territory in and the total revenue was $140.6 million. As at 31 2020. The Increasing Gale or Storm Signal No. 9 March 2021, the department had an establishment was issued during the passage of Typhoon Higos, the of 363 posts. highest tropical cyclone warning signal issued in 2020. The Year’s Weather WEATHER SERVICES The year 2020 was the second warmest in Hong Kong since records began in 1884, with an annual The Observatory provides weather forecasts mean temperature of 24.4 degrees, 1.1 degrees and warnings to the public, special users, the above normal. The annual mean maximum shipping and aviation communities to reduce loss of temperature of 27.2 degrees and annual mean life and damage to property, and to minimise minimum temperature of 22.5 degrees were disruption to economic and social activities during respectively the highest and second highest on hazardous weather. record. The mean temperature of 29.6 degrees for summer (June to August) was the highest on 1 In 2020, the Observatory fulfilled its as weather forecast, sunrise and sunset times of performance pledge of issuing at least one weather major cities in the world; bulletin every hour of the day, disseminating 100% of the bulletins within 10 minutes after each hour, and attained a forecast accuracy (as verified by objective means) of 92%. Weather information was enhanced in 2020-21 to meet the needs of the public through: • Alerting the public to high-impact weather such as violent gusts induced by severe thunderstorms; “Dr. Tin” chatbot service • Enhancing the weather satellite imagery on the Observatory website by updating the global mosaic infra-red satellite imageries more frequently from once every 3 hours to once every half-hour; Alerting violent gusts induced by severe thunderstorms • Extending the “Tropical Cyclone Track Probability Forecast” service to include the probability forecast of tropical cyclone track in the coming 9 days for tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific; Updating global mosaic infra-red satellite imageries more frequently • Enriching the Observatory’s mobile weather Extended the forecast area of the “Tropical Cyclone Track Probability application “MyObservatory” with more Forecast” to cover the Central Pacific between 140°E and 180°E information on “Earth Weather”, aviation weather, tide, and storm track; • Enhancing the trial chatbot service “Dr. Tin” on the Observatory’s mobile weather application • Enriching the “Regional Weather” webpage “MyObservatory” to support English dialogues with weather photos from Kau Sai Chau and and extending the trial chatbot service to the Cheung Chau. Weather photo of Kau Sai Chau Observatory website and Facebook page. The provides a distant view of weather situations “Dr. Tin” chatbot automatically answers over Sai Kung town and Ma On Shan paragliding questions about local weather, climate, tide area; information, Hong Kong standard time, as well 2 • Enhancing the “Earth Weather” website with 3- hourly or 6-hourly forecasts of temperature, humidity, wind direction, wind speed and weather icons for the next 9 days for 100 cities in the Asia-Pacific region, along with the addition of forecasts of wind gust that allow users to better appreciate the short-term high wind conditions associated with weather systems such as thunderstorms, strong monsoon or tropical cyclones; Weather photos can be accessed through the “Latest Weather Photo” Time series of city forecasts can be accessed by clicking the red dot icon or city name on the map in “Earth Weather” website webpage, mobile application “MyObservatory”, etc. • Launching a new version of the “Automatic • Launching the 9-day “Probability of Significant Regional Weather Forecast in Hong Kong & Rain” (PSR) forecast as an enhancement to the Pearl River Delta Region” service. Rainfall and 9-day weather forecast service. The PSR lightning nowcasts in the new web portal forecast on each day indicates the probability of incorporate three-dimensional display and the accumulated rainfall generally over Hong animation; and Kong reaching 10 mm or more on that day in 5 categories; “Automatic Regional Weather Forecast in Hong Kong & Pearl River Delta Region” web portal • Revamping the “Lightning Location Information Service” webpage. The newly designed layout 5 categories of the “Probability of Significant Rain” forecast allows the public to access real-time lightning location information and lightning count distribution over Hong Kong more conveniently, and the lightning count information is updated more frequently at 15-minute intervals. The new 9-day “Probability of Significant Rain” forecast (red box) 3 During the year, the Observatory continued to enhance communication and engagement with the public through social media, including crowdsourcing materials from the public for preparing social media contents. The Observatory’s Facebook page and Instagram account attracted around 230,000 and 36,000 followers respectively by the end of 2020. In 2020, a total of 64 government bureaux, departments and related organisations subscribed The “Lightning Location Information Service” webpage to the services of the Observatory through the Government Weather Information Server (GOWISE). In 2020, total number of page views of the Specialised weather services were also provided to Observatory websites and mobile weather utility companies, public transport operators, application “MyObservatory” reached about 158 engineering contractors and information providers billion. Users can receive weather warnings and on a cost-recovery basis. A total of 99 clients news through the Observatory’s Facebook, Twitter, subscribed to the Observatory’s specialised services Weibo and WeChat. The Observatory’s YouTube in 2020, generating a revenue of about $0.7 million. channel accumulated a total of around 5.4 million views. PC users can install the “Weather Wizard” The Observatory maintains a close surveillance desktop application to obtain the latest weather of the weather at and around the Hong Kong information. A personalised website that allows International Airport (HKIA) and provides the users to customise the information they receive is aviation community with the weather information also available. The Dial-a-Weather service (187 needed for its operations. In 2020–21, the 8200) handled a total of around 5.4 million calls Observatory commenced the implementation of the during the year. The Observatory’s internet time aviation meteorological facilities in support of the service drew a record high of more than 43 billion Three-Runway System project. Automatic global visits in 2020. city/airport forecast products for special users such as the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK) and Professional meteorologists of the Observatory airlines were launched. produced and hosted television weather programmes for broadcast through major television A web platform for aviation users was enhanced channels in the morning and evening. The to facilitate co-ordination amongst aviation Observatory also produced additional television meteorological watch offices in the Asia-Pacific weather programme on Sunday mornings since end- region to cover all en-route hazardous weather. 2020 to enhance communication with the public. The broadcast of weather program and educational feature “Cool Met Stuff” continued on television, YouTube, Facebook and the “MyObservatory” mobile application. Significant Weather Information (SIGMETs) issued (orange) by Flight Information Regions in the vicinity after co-ordination using the web platform. Pilots may decide to deviate from original planned flight path (red) to avoid adverse weather. The 325th episode of “Cool Met Stuff”: The Water Cycle (broadcast in Cantonese) 4 The Observatory issues forecasts of wind, bollard design for automatic weather station (AWS) weather, waves and swells for the marine in December 2020. With the new design, various community and container terminals. In 2020, the meteorological sensors can be housed together in a Observatory enriched the “Tidal Information” compact enclosure, solving the problem of installing webpage with data from two additional tide stations an ordinary automatic weather station in urban at Sai Kung and Chek Lap Kok operated by the Marine areas where space is limited. This facilitates
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