Hong Kong’s third-wettest August on record due to high number of typhoons

Hong Kong experienced its third-wettest August on record this year, which saw more than double the typical amount of rainfall, with authorities attributing the conditions to the unusually high number of typhoons that hit the city last month.

The government said on Tuesday that the 939.2mm (37 inches) of rainfall recorded last month was more than double the 453.2mm logged for a typical August.

It was also the third-wettest August on record, after 1,090mm in 1995 and 971.3mm in 2005. Only 12 days last month were without rainfall.

“The Hong Kong Observatory headquarters registered a record-breaking daily rainfall of 368.9mm on August 5, the highest daily rainfall in August since records began in 1884,” the government said.

It attributed the conditions to an active southwesterly monsoon and upper-air disturbances that had brought heavy showers and squally thunderstorms to the area from August 2 to 5.

“This daily rainfall amount was already more than 80 per cent of the normal rainfall in August,” authorities said.

It was also the fourth-cloudiest August on record, with a mean amount of cloud of 81 per cent – 11 per cent higher than normal.