A sunny and dry October
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Under the influence of a broad trough of low pressure, there were sunny intervals and a few showers in Hong Kong on the first day of the month. With the anticyclone aloft strengthening gradually, showers reduced on October 2 and local weather became generally fine and very hot in the following two days. The maximum temperature at the Observatory rose to 33.5 degrees in the afternoon on October 4, the highest of the month and also the hottest Chung Yeung Festival on record.
The northeast monsoon reached the coast of Guangdong on October 5 and there were sunny periods and a few showers in Hong Kong on that day. Local weather turned mainly fine during the day on October 6. Under the influence of another replenishment of the northeast monsoon, there were sunny periods during the day with showers in the morning and at night on October 7. More than 30 millimetres of rainfall were recorded in Tai Po and Sha Tin. Affected by a fresh to strong northeast monsoon, apart from a few showers, it was generally fine and dry during the day on October 8 to 9.
With the arrival of a replenishment of the northeast monsoon on October 9, local winds strengthened from the north that night. It became cooler on October 10. Local weather remained generally fine and dry on October 10 to 16 under the influence of the dry continental airstream. Meanwhile, an area of low pressure over the seas east of Luzon intensified progressively into a tropical storm on October 15 and was named Nesat. After moving across the Luzon Strait, Nesat entered the northeastern part of the South China Sea and intensified rapidly into a typhoon on October 16. It moved west-southwestwards across the northern and central parts of the South China Sea in the next two days. Nesat weakened progressively into a tropical storm over the seas south of Hainan Island on October 19 and further degenerated into an area of low pressure in the vicinity of Beibu Wan the next day.
Under the combined effect of the northeast monsoon and Nesat, it was windy in Hong Kong on October 17 to 18. Local temperatures started to drop appreciably on the early morning of October 18 and the weather became rainy and cool later on that day. The temperature at the Observatory dropped to a minimum of 17.3 degrees on the night of October 18, the lowest of the month. As Nesat departed from the coast of Guangdong, local weather improved with sunny periods on October 19 to 20. It was also very dry during the day on October 19.
An anticyclone aloft brought generally fine and dry weather to Hong Kong on October 21 and 22. Meanwhile, a tropical depression moved across the Luzon Strait on October 21 and entered the northeastern part of the South China Sea the next day. The tropical depression moved west-southwestwards across the northern part of the South China Sea afterwards and finally weakened into an area of low pressure on October 23. Affected by the tropical depression and its remnant low pressure area, local weather became cloudier on October 23. Under the influence of a dry northeast monsoon and its subsequent replenishment, sunny and dry weather persisted on October 24 to 30.
Meanwhile, an area of low pressure over the seas east of the Philippines intensified progressively into a tropical storm on October 27 and was named Nalgae. It moved west-northwestwards towards Luzon the next day. Nalgae intensified into a severe tropical storm and moved across Luzon on October 29. It moved north-northwestwards across the central part of the South China Sea the next day. Under the combined effect of Nalgae and the northeast monsoon, the weather of Hong Kong turned cloudier with winds strengthening from the north on the last day of the month.
Eight tropical cyclones occurred over the South China Sea and the western North Pacific in October 2022.
Details of issuance and cancellation of various warnings/signals in October are summarised in Table 1. Monthly meteorological figures and departures from normal for October are tabulated in Table 2.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Issued at HKT 12:52
Issued at HKT 12:52
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