This year's summer the hottest on record: observatory
This summer was Hong Kong's hottest on record with a mean temperature of 29.7 degrees over the past three months, the observatory said on Monday.  Last month was also the hottest August the territory has ever seen, with the mean temperature of 29.7 degrees one degree higher than the average level from 1991 to 2020. Fifteen nights were classified as "hot" last month and there was also much less rain than usual. "August 2023 was much hotter than usual in Hong Kong, mainly attributable to the warmer than normal sea surface temperature over the northern part of the South China Sea and a stronger than usual southwesterly flow in the lower atmosphere over the south China coast," the observatory said. The accumulated rainfall in the first eight months of the year was about 40 percent less compared with the normal level for the period of more than 1,900 millimetres.