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GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

October 19. It caused severe damage and more than 600 fatalities as it crossed southern Mindanao. It moved north-westwards to the vicinity of the Paracel Islands and then turned westwards and caused severe flooding in Vietnam on October 26 and 27 where it eventually died out.

Tropical storm Louise developed over the southern part of the South China Sea on October 27. It moved westwards and caused more flooding over South Vietnam on October 28 and 29.

The continental anticyclone over mainland China was rather in- tense during November and the weather in Hong Kong was excep- tionally dry. The total rainfall for the month was only 0.1 mm which is the second lowest rainfall ever recorded in November.

During the month, three tropical cyclones crossed the South China Sea but none of them came close to Hong Kong. However, typhoon Patsy hit the central Philippines and caused severe damage in Manila on November 19.

In Hong Kong December was much wetter than normal. The total rainfall for the month was 70.4 mm and there was some rain on 17 days. During the month there were four monsoon surges but no very sharp falls in temperature. The absolute minimum tempera- ture for the month was 11.2°C.

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