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November 2015 emerged as the warmest November in Hong Kong since records began in 1884, with a record-breaking mean temperature of 24.0 degrees, 2.2 degrees above the November normal of 21.8 degrees. The anomalously warm weather was mainly attributed to the relatively high sea surface temperatures over the northern part of the South China Sea and the rather weak advection of cold air from the north despite the prevailing northeast monsoon. The month was also drier than usual with only 22.8 millimetres of rainfall, a deficit of about 39 per cent compared to the normal figure of 37.6 millimetres. The accumulated rainfall of 1810.2 millimetres since January this year was about 24 per cent below the normal figure of 2371.7 millimetres for the same period.
Under the influence of the northeast monsoon, the weather in Hong Kong was mainly fine but appreciably cooler on the first two days of the month. With the setting in of an easterly airstream over the coast of Guangdong, the weather was a mixture of cloudy days, sunny periods and some light rain patches for the next five days. With the clouds thinning out gradually, there was more sunshine on November 8 and 9, and the weather became warmer with temperatures at the Hong Kong Observatory rising to a maximum of 30.3 degrees, the highest of the month, on November 9.
Meanwhile, a cold front over inland Guangdong moved southwards and crossed the coastal areas on the night of November 9. A strong northeast monsoon associated with the cold front brought windy and slightly cooler weather with rain patches to the territory over the next four days. After a brighter day on November 14, the setting in of a fresh to strong easterly airstream over the coast of Guangdong brought windy conditions again with more rain patches on November 15 and 16.
The weather turned generally fine apart from some coastal mist patches on November 17 and 18. Windy and mainly cloudy conditions returned with an easterly airstream for the ensuing three days, before the clouds thinned out gradually with fine weather setting in from November 22 to 24.
An intense northeast monsoon reached the coast of Guangdong on the morning of November 25 and winds strengthened gradually form the north that day. While the weather remained mostly fine under the dominance of a dry continental air mass, it became appreciably cooler as temperatures at the Hong Kong Observatory fell to a minimum of 15.3 degrees, the lowest of the month, on the morning of November 27. With the moderation of the northeast monsoon, temperatures recovered gradually towards the end of the month.
One tropical cyclone occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in the month.
Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in the month are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for November are tabulated in Table 2.
Ends/Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:31
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