********************
It was mild and dry in March 2010. The mean temperature for the month was 20.2 degrees, about 1.3 degrees above normal. The total rainfall in the month was 17.5 millimetres, about 75% below the normal figure of 71.4 millimetres. The total bright sunshine duration was 110.1 hours, about 23% above the normal figure of 89.6 hours.
Under the influence of a humid maritime airstream, the weather in Hong Kong was mainly cloudy, warm and humid with fog for the first six days of the month.
A cold front crossed the coast of Guangdong on the morning of March 7, bringing some rain patches and significantly cooler weather to the territory. Affected by the intense northeast monsoon behind the cold front, local temperatures dropped further the next day and the weather became cold on March 9 and 10. The temperature at the Hong Kong Observatory dropped to a minimum of 8.1 degrees on March 10, the lowest of the month. In the meantime, the northeast monsoon turned dry and it was fine in Hong Kong on March 10 and 11. As the northeast monsoon moderated, the weather became cloudy and foggy for the ensuing four days with temperatures rising gradually to above 20 degrees on March 15.
After the passage of another cold front across the south China coast early on March 16, local weather was relatively cool while remaining cloudy for two days. Under the influence of a ridge of high pressure over southeast China, it became mainly fine on March 18 and 19. A weak maritime airstream over the south China coastal areas brought misty weather for the territory on March 20.
With the establishment of another ridge of high pressure over eastern China, the associated fresh northeast monsoon carried the sand and dust originating from sandstorms over northern China to the coast of Guangdong on March 21. Locally, visibility in the harbour generally dropped below 3,000 metres later in the afternoon on that day. The visibility remained rather low on March 22 but improved slightly over the next two days as the winds turned to southerly.
A cold front moved southwards across the coast of Guangdong later on March 24, bringing some rain and a significant drop in temperature of about 10 degrees in Hong Kong overnight. With a strong monsoon prevailing, it was mainly cloudy and cool with significant improvement in the visibility during the day on March 25.
Under the influence of a dry northerly airstream, the weather turned fine and dry on March 26. It remained rather dry with relative humidity decreasing generally to below 50% during the day on March 27 and 28.
A fresh to strong easterly airstream prevailed over the southeastern China coastal areas bringing cloudy weather to Hong Kong on March 29 and 30. With the moderation of the easterlies, it was rather warm with sunny periods on the last day of the month.
One tropical cyclone occurred over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in the month.
Details of the issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normals of March are tabulated in Table 2.
Ends/Thursday, April 1, 2010
Issued at HKT 18:28
NNNN
