HK expects weekend temperatures to drop as tropical cyclone nears

This screenshot from the website of Hong Kong Observatory shows the forecast track of Super Typhoon Rai.

HONG KONG (China Daily/Asia News Network): The Hong Kong Observatory has forecast significantly lower temperatures over the weekend as Super Typhoon Rai is expected to enter the southern part of the South China Sea, edging closer to Hong Kong.

In a weather bulletin issued on Thursday (Dec 16), the forecaster said Rai will move across the Philippines Thursday and Friday. It will enter the southern part of the South China Sea over the weekend, and turn to a northerly track and weaken gradually.

“An intense northeast monsoon will bring cool weather to southern China in the next few days,” it said.

The observatory forecast that winds will strengthen from the north on Friday and the weather will become appreciably cooler later. It will be mainly fine over the weekend with the minimum temperature dropping to 15 degrees on Saturday. The mercury will further drop to about 14 degrees on Sunday.

The cloud bands associated with Rai will bring rainy weather to the northern part of the South China Sea early to midweek next week, it added.

On Thursday noon, Super Typhoon Rai was centered about 800 kilometers southeast of Manila. It is forecast to move west at about 28 kilometers per hour towards the southern part of the Philippines. The maximum sustained wind near the center of Rai is 185 km per hour, the observatory said.

A typhoon hitting the financial hub in December is rare but not unheard of.

A total of seven tropical cyclones entered 800km of Hong Kong during the last month of the year between 1961 and 2020.

Among them, typhoon Irma prompted the Hong Kong Observatory to issue typhoon signal No. 3 on Dec 1, 1974.