181
No. 25.
HONGKONG.
ANNUAL WEATHER REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OBSERVATORY, FOR 1885.
Presented to the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government,
on 14th April, 1886.
ANNUAL WEATHER REPORT FOR 1885.
The year 1885 presented some unusual features here, which were caused by the exceptional strength of the S monsoon last summer. The SW monsoon in India was also unusually strong, while the summer in England was extremely hot and dry. These features will be better understood, when the isobars over the world for last summer are constructed, but there is not much doubt, that the area of high pressure over the Pacific did not stretch so far westward as usual, in consequence of which, gradients for SW winds were steeper than usual and most of the typhoons passed east of Formosa, the most important exception being furnished by the typhoon that passed through the Formosa Channel on the 24th August, but this typhoon had apparently been deflected from the usual path and attracted by the small typhoon that passed northwards between Hongkong and Macao on the 17th of that month. And the typhoons appear to have originated farther East of Luzon than in 1884.
During the summer the amount of cloud over this place was excessive and they were unusually low. There was little sunshine, much rain, and the thunderstorms were severe and protracted. The effect of the S monsoon is very striking on comparing the monthly rainfall at Stone Cutters' Island with the mean of eight years' rainfall (1878-1885 incl.):-
Month.
Rainfall.
Mean.
1885.
Excess
above mean.
January,
0.64
0.71
+ 0.07
February,.
1.75
2.54.
+ 0.79
March,
3.95
2.16
1.79
April,
6.99
13.72
+
6.73
May,.
11.67
5.64
6.03
June,
14.12
26.74
+ 12.62
July,..
15.36
16.01
+
0.65
August,
18.67
28.81
+ 10.14
September,
10.54
5.97
-
4.57
October,
5.74
2.59
3.15
November,
1.24
0.45
-
0.79
December,
0.34
1.03
+ 0.69
Year.
91.01
106.37
+ 15.36
At the Observatory the cisterns of the barograph and the standard barometer are placed 110 feet above Mean Sea Level. The bulbs of the thermometers are placed 109 feet above Mean Sea Level and 4 feet above the ground except the terrestrial radiation thermometer, which is about one inch above the ground. The rim of the pluviograph, which is 114 inches in diameter, is placed 106 feet above Mean Sea Level and 21 inches above the ground. The cups of the anemograph are 150 feet above Mean Sea Level and 45 feet above the ground.
At Victoria Peak the instruments, except the radiation thermometers and the rain-gauge, are placed in the look-out. The cistern of the barometer is 1819 feet above Mean Sea Level. The bulbs of the thermometers are about 4 feet above the floor, except the maximum thermometer, which is a few inches higher. The radiation thermometers are placed at the same height above the ground as at the Obser- vatory. The rim of the rain-gauge is 8 inches in diameter and is one foot above the ground.