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The Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, Mr Shun Chi-ming, today (March 20) briefed the media on the department's latest developments.
Mr Shun was pleased to report that the Observatory had won 16 international and local awards in 2011 covering service enhancement, information and communication technology, as well as community engagement.
"These awards represent wide recognition of the Observatory's efforts," Mr Shun said.
On weather forecasting services, Mr Shun said that in a survey conducted by an independent market survey company in October 2011, about 80 per cent of the Observatory's weather forecasts were considered accurate by the public, the highest since 2006. The Observatory also made progress in seasonal forecasts with colder than normal weather correctly predicted for the past winter (December 2011 - February 2012).
Mr Shun added that the Observatory had taken great strides in enhancing the delivery of services over the internet, mobile platforms and social network platforms.
"A new record in the access rate of the Observatory's website was set in 2011, registering a total of 6.2 billion visits, about 3.4 times more than 2010. In particular, the access rate of the personalised weather service 'MyObservatory' soared to 1.9 billion in 2011, exceeding the figure for the entire Observatory website in 2010," Mr Shun said.
Last year, the Observatory, on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization, launched the mobile application "MyWorldWeather" on the iPhone platform. "MyWorldWeather" is the world's first weather service for people on the move, automatically providing official weather forecasts for the city nearest to the user. The Observatory also broke new ground by disseminating quick earthquake messages through Twitter and Weibo to the public around 10 minutes after the occurrence of strong earthquakes.
Regarding partnership, the Observatory collaborated with the Government Flying Service to use its fixed-wing aircraft to collect for the first time rare meteorological data near the centre of Tropical Storm Haima in June 2011.
Looking ahead, Mr Shun expects to provide weather forecasts of higher resolution.
"From today onwards, when a change in weather is expected in local weather forecasts, for example, when the weather will change from fine to rainy, the Observatory will adopt two weather icons instead of one to highlight the weather change. The Observatory will explore using a similar approach in providing a more detailed forecast for the first few days of the 7-day forecast.
"A higher resolution iPad version of 'MyObservatory' was unveiled today. To better alert members of the public to impending inclement weather, the Observatory will provide 'special weather tips' on the front page of the Observatory website. A new product for 'MyObservatory' featuring a location-specific rainfall forecast for the next couple of hours is also in the pipeline for this year," Mr Shun introduced the service enhancement.
Building on its continuous interaction with the aviation, shipping, fisherman, elderly and education communities, the Observatory will extend its engagement to other sectors of the society progressively. In this respect the Community Weather Observing Scheme will be launched as a new initiative under the Community Weather Information Network later this year. The scheme will enable students and other contributing members to post weather photos and reports for sharing, in a bid to further promote public education in weather and climate.
On the annual weather outlook, given the influence of La Nina during the spring this year, the Observatory expects the typhoon season will start in June or earlier, with the number of tropical cyclones affecting Hong Kong to be normal to above-normal, between five and eight. The annual rainfall is expected to be normal to below-normal.
As the rainy season approaches, Mr Shun reminded the public about the possible impact of thunderstorms, especially strong wind gusts. The Observatory has updated its pamphlet on thunderstorms to promote better preparedness by the public, the logistics community, container terminal operators and others.
To celebrate World Meteorological Day, the Observatory will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday (March 24 and 25).
The full text of the Director's speech at the press briefing has been uploaded at www.weather.gov.hk/dhkovoice/speech20120320e.pdf.
Ends/Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 18:33
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