July 29, 2022
HONG KONG – Hong Kong has already endured 22 sweltering evenings as of July 27, setting a new record of “warm nights” since the city started keeping weather records in 1884, the Hong Kong Observatory said.
The current warm night streak — from July 9 to 27 — numbered 19 days, which is also longest since 1884, the HKO said in a post on its Facebook page
Warm nights, defined by HKO as those with a minimum temperature above 28 degrees Celsius, mean people would have difficulty sleeping without air-conditioning.
Hong Kong’s previous record of warm nights was set in 2021 at 21. On July 23, the city sizzled with temperatures reaching 36.1 C, the hottest July day on record for the financial hub.
The persistently hot weather is expected continue into early next week, due to an anticyclone aloft in southern China, according to HKO.
A welcome relief from a few showers and isolated thunderstorms might arrive as early as Tuesday, it added.
“With the anticyclone aloft weakening, and under the influence of an upper level disturbance, there will be showers and thunderstorms over southeastern China in the middle to latter parts of next week,” the HKO said. “Besides, the tropical cyclone over the western North Pacific will move in the general direction of the East China Sea and intensify gradually in the next couple of days.”