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According to the World Meteorological Organization's preliminary assessment based on the global average temperature from January to October, 2014 is likely to be one of the hottest years since global records began in 1850. Moreover, notable extreme weather events wreaked havoc in many parts of the world in 2014, with heatwaves in South Africa, Australia and Argentina; exceptionally cold weather in the Midwest and Mississippi River areas of the United States; heavy snow in northern and eastern Japan, and in the Buffalo and New York areas of the United States; severe drought in northern China, parts of eastern and central Brazil, western United States, the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland, and the North-West Province of South Africa; extreme rainfall and flooding in the United Kingdom, the Balkan peninsula, France, parts of southern Russia, parts of South Africa, Mozambique, Morocco, Japan, Nepal, northern Bangladesh, northern Pakistan and India, Argentina, Paraguay, and parts of the United States; super-typhoon Rammasun in the Philippines and Hainan Province of China; the very severe cyclonic storms Hud Hud and Nilfar in India, and typhoons Nakri and Halong in western Japan. Over the central and eastern equatorial Pacific the sea surface temperature has remained above the normal range from May to October and an El Nino event has been established. The minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September 2014 was the sixth lowest on record.
In Hong Kong, the weather overall in 2014 was warmer than usual. Although it was cooler in February, March and December, the weather was unusually hot from June to September and very warm in October and November. As for the whole year, the annual average temperature of 23.5 degrees was 0.2 degrees above the 1981-2010 normal (Note 1) (or 0.5 degrees above the 1961-1990 normal of 23.0 degrees), ranking the ninth highest on record. Regarding extreme temperatures, there were 33 Very Hot Days (Note 2) and 34 Hot Nights (Note 3) in 2014, respectively about 23 and 16 days more than for the 1981-2010 normal, with both figures ranking the second highest since records began in 1884. The number of Cold Days (Note 4) in the year was 21 - four above normal. In 2014, the maximum temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory was 34.6 degrees on August 1, and the minimum temperature recorded was 7.3 degrees on February 12.
With unsettled weather and well above normal rainfall in March, May and August, 2014 was also a wet and thundery year. The annual total rainfall was 2638.3 millimetres, about 10 per cent more than the 1981-2010 normal of 2398.5 millimetres (and about 19 per cent above the 1961-1990 normal). The total number of days with thunderstorms reported at the Hong Kong Observatory was 59, the highest since records began in 1947, breaking the previous record of 53 days set in 1997 and 2013. Affected by troughs of low pressure, there were torrential rain and intense thunderstorms in Hong Kong on March 30 and May 8, necessitating the Observatory to issue the Black Rainstorm Warning. The Intense thunderstorms on March 30 also brought widespread hail and severe squalls to the territory.
A total of 24 tropical cyclones occurred over the western North Pacific and the South China Sea in 2014, less than the long term (1961-2010) average of around 30. A total of 11 tropical cyclones reached typhoon intensity (Note 5) or above during the year, below the long term average of about 15. In Hong Kong, four tropical cyclones necessitated the issuance of local tropical cyclone warning signals, lower than the long term average of about six in a year. The No.8 Gale or Storm Signal was issued during the passage of Typhoon Kalmaegi in September.
Detailed descriptions of the weather for individual months are available on the Monthly Weather Summary webpage: www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/pastwx/mws.htm .
A detailed version of the weather for 2014 with significant weather events in Hong Kong is available at The Year's Weather's webpage: www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/pastwx/ywx.htm .
Note 1: Climatological normals for the reference period of 1961-1990, 1971-2000 and 1981-2010 are available at: www.weather.gov.hk/cis/normal_e.htm . Climatological normals of 1981-2010 are referenced in the text unless otherwise stated.
Note 2: "Very Hot Day" refers to the condition with the daily maximum temperature equal to or higher than 33.0 degrees.
Note 3: "Hot Night" refers to the condition with the daily minimum temperature equal to or higher than 28.0 degrees.
Note 4: "Cold Day" refers to the condition with the daily minimum temperature equal to or lower than 12.0 degrees.
Note 5: Information on the classification of Tropical Cyclones is available at www.hko.gov.hk/informtc/class.htm .
Ends/Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Issued at HKT 18:05
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