Appendix F.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY, HONG KONG, FOR THE YEAR 1984.
I. GROUNDS, BUILDINGS AND INSTRUMENTS.
New quarters for the Director were completed during February. Various alterations to the old quarters were carried out during the execution of the periodical redecoration programme and the rooms were taken into use as offices during May.
2. The Richard thermograph was replaced by electrical resistance thermometers and a Cambridge thread recorder on June 29th. In its new position, the radio mast offers no shade to the sunshine recorder and one instrument only was in use throughout the year.
II. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.
3. Automatic records of the temperature of the air and evaporation were obtained with a Richard dry and wet bulb thermograph until 28th June, and subsequently with the resistance thermometers and thread recorder. Direction and velocity of the wind were recorded with Beckley and Dines-Baxendell anemographs, rainfall by a Nakamura Pluviograph, sunshine by a Campbell-Stokes universal recorder and barometric pressure by a Marvin barograph. Eye observations of barometric pressure, temperature and cloud were made hourly, and of the direction of cloud motion every three hours. Observations of pilot balloons were made with a Watts 1 inch prismatic theodolite at 9h. a.m. and 3h. p.m. when conditions were favourable.
4. The principal features of the weather in 1934 were:-
(a) An abnormally cloudy and humid summer. For five successive months, April to August, there was a deficiency of sunshine, and the total duration of sunshine for the year (1843 hours) fell short of the normal by 124 hours. In each of the months June, July and August the mean relative humidity equalled or exceeded the highest value on record, while the amount of rainfall recorded during these three months was considerably greater than the average,
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