SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1935
12
PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES TO GO FULLY METRIC
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THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY'S PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES WILL GO FULLY "ETRIC FROM JANUARY 1, 1986.
THE NEW UNITS TO BE INTRODUCED WILL BE THE KILOMETRE (KM) EUR ISTANCE, KILOMETRES PER HOUR FOR SPEED AND HECTOPASCALS (HPA) FOR ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE.
THEY WILL REPLACE THE OLD UNITS OF NAUTICAL MILES, KNOTS AND MILLIBARS RESPECTIVELY.
SPEAKING AT A NEWS CONFERENCE, DR H.K. LAM, ACTING ASSISTANT DİRECTOR (OPERATIONS AND SERVICES), ROYAL OBSERVATORY, SAID ALL FIGURES IN WEATHER BULLETINS FOR BROADCASTING AND FOR NEWSPAPER PUBLICATION WOULD BE EXPRESSED IN METRIC UNITS ONCE THE CHANGEOVER 'WAS EFFECTED.
DAILY WEATHER MAPS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS PREPARED BY THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY WILL ALSO FOLLOW SUIT.
THE CONVERSION FACTORS OF THE NEW UNITS ARE:
DISTANCE
SPEED
1 KILOMETRE = 0.54 NAUTICAL MILE
1 KILOMETRE PER HOUR
*
0.54 KNOT
ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE
1 HECTOPASCAL 1 MILLIBAR
DR LAM SAID THE CHANGEOVER WILL COMPLETE THE CONVERSION OF THE PUBLIC WEATHER SERVICES TO THE METRIC SYSTEM WHICH THE ROYAL CBSERVATORY STARTED SOME 20 YEARS AGO.
+THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS TO INTRODUCE THE METRIC SYSTEM IN HONG KONG.
+THE CELSIUS SCALE WAS FIRST ADOPTED IN THE MID-60'S. FOR TEMPERATURE READING AND THE MILLIMETRE WAS BROUGHT INTO USE FOR RAINFALL MEASUREMENT IN 1969, HE SAID.
DR LAM SAID THAT THE EFFECT OF THE CHANGEOVER WOULD BE MORE APPARENT TO THE PUBLIC DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS WHEN TROPICAL CYCLONE ADVISORY BULLETINS AND WARNINGS WOULD BE ISSUED IN METRIC LIT3.
+THE DISTANCE OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE FROM A REFERENCE PLACE ILL BE GIVEN IN KILOMETRES (KM), THE SPEED OF MOVEMENT OF THE CYCLONE WILL BE IN KILOMETRES PER HOUR (KM/H) AND WIND SPEEDS RECORDED AT LOCAL STATIONS WILL ALSO BE IN KILOMETRES PER HOUR.+
/HE CITED ..........